Practice Problems on Normal Distribution
4–29. The number of votes cast in favor of a controversial proposition is believed to be
approximately normally distributed with mean 8,000 and standard deviation 1,000. The
proposition needs at least 9,322 votes in order to pass. What is the probability that the
proposition will pass? (Assume numbers are on a continuous scale.)
4–31. Wine Spectator rates wines on a point scale of 0 to 100. It can be inferred from the many
ratings in this magazine that the average rating is 87 and the standard deviation is 3 points.
Wine ratings seem to follow a normal distribution. In the May 15, 2007, issue of the magazine,
the burgudy Domaine des Perdrix received a rating of 89. What is the probability that a
randomly chosen wine will score this high or higher?
4–37. The daily price of orange juice 30-day futures is normally distributed. In March through
April 2007, the mean was 145.5 cents per pound, and standard deviation = 25.0 cents per pound.
Assuming the price is independent from day to day, find P (x < 100) on the next day.
4–47. The demand for high-grade gasoline at a service station is normally distributed with
mean 27,009 gallons per day and standard deviation 4,530. Find two values that will give a
symmetric 0.95 probability interval for the amount of high-grade gasoline demanded daily.
4–49. Private consumption as a share of GDP is a random quantity that follows a roughly
normal distribution. According to an article in BusinessWeek, for the United States that was
about 71%. Assuming that this value is the mean of a normal distribution, and that the standard
deviation of the distribution is 3%, what is the value of private consumption as share of GDP
such that you are 90% sure that the actual value falls below it?
4–51. The daily price in dollars per metric ton of cocoa in 2007 was normally distributed with
µ = $2,014 per metric ton and σ = $2.00. Find a price such that the probability that the actual
price will be above it is 0.80.
4–53. An advertising research study indicates that 40% of the viewers exposed to an
advertisement try the product during the following four months. If 100 people are exposed to
the ad, what is the probability that at least 20 of them will try the product in the following four
months?
4–54. According to The Economist, 77.9% of Google stockholders have voting power.7 If
2,000 stockholders are gathered in a meeting, what is the probability that at least 1,500 of them
can vote?
4–55. Sixty percent of the managers who enroll in a special training program will successfully
complete the program. If a large company sends 328 of its managers to enroll in the program,
what is the probability that at least 200 of them will pass?
4–56. A large state university sends recruiters throughout the state to recruit graduating high
school seniors to enroll in the university. University records show that 25% of the students who
are interviewed by the recruiters actually enroll. If last spring the university recruiters
interviewed 1,889 graduating seniors, what is the probability that at least 500 of them will
enroll this fall?
4–57. According to Fortune, Missouri is within 500 miles of 44% of all U.S. manufacturing
plants.8 If a Missouri company needs parts manufactured in 122 different plants, what is the
probability that at least half of them can be found within 500 miles of the state? (Assume
independence of parts and of plants.)
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4–59. The time, in hours, that a copying machine may work without breaking down is a
normally distributed random variable with mean 549 and standard deviation 68. Find the
probability that the machine will work for at least 500 hours without breaking down.
4–66. The impact of a television commercial, measured in terms of excess sales volume over a
given period, is believed to be approximately normally distributed with mean 50,000 and
variance 9,000,000. Find 0.99 probability bounds on the volume of excess sales that would
result from a given airing of the commercial.
4–72. Total annual textbook sales in a certain discipline are normally distributed. Forty-five
percent of the time, sales are above 671,000 copies, and 10% of the time, sales are above
712,000 copies. Find the mean and the variance of annual sales.
4–76. The number of newspapers demanded daily in a large metropolitan area is believed to be
an approximately normally distributed random variable. If more newspapers are demanded
than are printed, the paper suffers an opportunity loss, in that it could have sold more papers,
and a loss of public goodwill. On the other hand, if more papers are printed than will be
demanded, the unsold papers are returned to the newspaper office at a loss. Suppose that
management believes that guarding against the first type of error, unmet demand, is most
important and would like to set the number of papers printed at a level such that 75% of the
time, demand for newspapers will be lower than that point. How many papers should be printed
daily if the average demand is 34,750 papers and the standard deviation of demand is 3,560?
4–81. The profit (or loss) from an investment is normally distributed with a mean of $11,200
and a standard deviation of $8,250.
a. What is the probability that there will be a loss rather than a profit?
b. What is the probability that the profit will be between $10,000 and $20,000?
c. Find x such that the probability that the profit will exceed x is 25%.
d. If the loss exceeds $10,000 the company will have to borrow additional cash. What is the
probability that the company will have to borrow additional cash?