The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Department of Applied Mathematics
AMA1501 Introduction to Statistics for Business/
AMA1602 Introduction to Statistics
2025/26 Semester Two
Assignment
Due date: 18 Mar 2026, 23:59
Write your solutions by hand on A4 paper using a black or blue pen; typing or printing is
not allowed. Start each question on a new page. If a solution spans multiple pages, that
is acceptable. Scan or photograph each page, ensuring your work is legible and properly
oriented. Illegible handwriting will not be marked. Combine the scans for each question in
order into a single PDF and submit it through the Blackboard link.
1. The marketing analyst of an electronics store investigates the number of items pur-
chased by customers using a store loyalty card in the last quarter. A random sample
of the number of items purchased by 100 loyalty cardholders in the last quarter is
selected, and their purchase quantities are shown below:
Number of Items Frequency
1–4 6
5–8 9
9 – 12 15
13 – 16 19
17 – 20 23
21 – 24 17
25 – 28 11
(a) Find the mean, mode and standard deviation of the number of items purchased.
(9 marks)
(b) Calculate the coefficient of skewness using the results in (a). Comment the skew-
ness of the distribution. (3 marks)
(c) Calculate the interquartile range of the distribution. (5 marks)
1
(d) Another random sample of purchases made by customers using cash in the last
quarter has a mean of 11 items and a standard deviation of 5 items. Discuss
which type of payment method shows a larger variation in the number of items
purchased. (4 marks)
(e) A gold membership will be given to loyalty cardholders who are in the top 20%
of customers based on the number of items purchased. Using the frequency dis-
tribution provided, determine the minimum number of items a customer must
purchase to qualify for this gold membership. (4 marks)
2. (a) 40% of the bicycles on a path are mountain bikes. If a bicycle is not a mountain
bike, the probability that it has a flat tire is 0.15. Assume that the conditions of
the bicycles on the path are independent. Assume that 50% of the bicycles with
flat tires on the path are mountain bikes.
i. Two mountain bikes are selected randomly and independently on the path.
Find the probability that both of them have flat tires. (5 marks)
ii. Two bicycles are selected randomly and independently on the path. Find the
probability that both of them have flat tires. (5 marks)
(b) A bag contains 5 red marbles, 3 blue marbles, and 2 green marbles. How many
ways are there to select 4 marbles? (5 marks)
(c) A fair die is thrown five times and let S be the smallest number obtained.
i. Find P rob(S = 6). (4 marks)
ii. Use part i. to find P rob(S = 5). (6 marks)
3. Charles’ hobby is stargazing. On average, he sees 3 shooting stars per week (= 7 days).
(a) Calculate the probability that he sees exactly 3 shooting stars in a week.
(3 marks)
(b) Calculate the probability that he sees more than 2 shooting stars in a day.
(4 marks)
(c) Calculate the probability that he will see at least one shooting star each week
over the next 5 weeks. (5 marks)
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4. Dickens is a journalist who writes 10 articles every month. Unfortunately, in 4% of his
articles, he makes a factual error which needs to be corrected.
(a) Calculate the probability that he will make 2 or more factual errors in a given
month. (3 marks)
(b) Using an appropriate approximation method, estimate the probability that Dick-
ens will make at most 4 factual errors in a given year (= 12 months). (5 marks)
(c) Using an appropriate approximation method, estimate the probability that Dick-
ens will make at least 200 factual errors in a 40-year career (= 480 months).
(5 marks)
5. Napoleon wants to form an elite Imperial Guard, consisting of only taller soldiers. To
join the Imperial Guard, soldiers must be at least 170 cm in height. Assume that at
that time, the height of adult men in France is normally distributed with a mean of
162 cm and a standard deviation of 5 cm.
(a) Calculate the probability that a randomly selected adult man is tall enough to
join the Imperial Guard. (4 marks)
(b) Calculate the probability that, among five randomly selected adult men, at least
two are tall enough to join the Imperial Guard. (4 marks)
(c) Calculate the probability that the mean height of five randomly selected adult
men is at least 170 cm. (4 marks)
(d) Suppose Napoleon intends to recruit personal bodyguards from within the Im-
perial Guard, requiring them to be at least 175 cm tall. Given that a randomly
selected adult man is eligible to join the Imperial Guard, calculate the probability
that he is at least 175 cm tall. (7 marks)
6. Gaston really enjoys eating eggs, and wishes to estimate the average weight of an egg.
He measures 60 eggs and finds that the mean weight of the eggs is 32.1g. He also
remembers hearing from a farmer that the standard deviation of eggs is 5.4g. Find a
90% confidence interval for the mean weight of eggs. (6 marks)
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