STA2EA1 (University of Johannesburg) Distribution Theory Part 2 2026

Tutorial 8***
Exercise 1

Let Z be a standard normal random variable and calculate the following probabilities, drawing pictures wherever
appropriate.

a) ℙ(0 ≤ Z ≤ 2.17) b) ℙ(0 ≤ Z ≤ 1)

c) ℙ(−2.50 ≤ Z ≤ 0) d) ℙ(−2.50 ≤ Z ≤ 2.50)

e) ℙ(Z ≤ 1.37) f) ℙ(−1.75 ≤ Z)

g) ℙ(−1.50 ≤ Z ≤ 2.00) h) ℙ(1.37 ≤ Z ≤ 2.50)

i) ℙ(1.50 ≤ Z) j) ℙ(|𝑍𝑍| ≤ 2.50)

Exercise 2

In each case, determine the value of the constant c that makes the probability statement correct. You may also use Excel.

a) Φ(c) = 0.9838. b) ℙ(0 ≤ Z ≤ c) = 0.291

c) ℙ(c ≤ Z) = 0.121 d) ℙ(−c ≤ Z ≤ c) = 0.668

e) ℙ(c ≤ |𝑍𝑍|) = 0.016

Exercise 3

Find the following percentiles for the standard normal distribution. Interpolate where appropriate.
a) 91st b) 9th c) 75th

d) 25th e) 6th

Exercise 4

Determine zα for the following values of α:

a) α = 0.0055 b) α = 0.09

c) α = 0.663
STA2EA1 (University of Johannesburg) Distribution Theory Part 2 2026

Exercise 5

Suppose the force acting on a column that helps to support a building is a normally distributed random variable X with mean
value 15.0 kips and standard deviation 1.25 kips. Compute the following probabilities by standardizing and then using Table
A.3.
a) ℙ(X ≤ 15) b) ℙ(X ≤ 17.5) c) ℙ(X ≥ 10)

d) ℙ(14 ≤ X ≤ 18) e) ℙ(|X − 15| ≤ 3)

Exercise 6
Mopeds (small motorcycles with an engine capacity below 50 cm3) are very popular in Europe because of their mobility,
ease of operation, and low cost. The article “Procedure to Verify the Maximum Speed of Automatic Transmission Mopeds in
Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspections” (J. of Automobile Engr., 2008: 1615–1623) described a rolling bench test for
determining maximum vehicle speed. A normal distribution with mean value 46.8 km/h and standard deviation 1.75 km/h is
postulated. Consider randomly selecting a single such moped.
a) What is the probability that maximum speed is at most 50 km/h?
b) What is the probability that maximum speed is at least 48 km/h?
c) What is the probability that maximum speed differs from the mean value by at most 1.5 standard deviations?

Exercise 7

The article “Reliability of Domestic-Waste Biofilm Reactors” (J. of Envir. Engr., 1995: 785–790) suggests that substrate
concentration (mg/cm3 ) of influent to a reactor is normally distributed with μ = 0.30 and σ = 0.06.
a) What is the probability that the concentration exceeds 0.50?
b) What is the probability that the concentration is at most 0.20?
c) How would you characterize the largest 5% of all concentration values?

Exercise 8
Suppose that blood chloride concentration (mmol/L) has a normal distribution with mean 104 and standard deviation 5
(information in the article “Mathematical Model of Chloride Concentration in Human Blood,” J. of Med. Engr. and Tech.,
2006: 25–30, including a normal probability plot as described in Section 4.6, supports this assumption).
a) What is the probability that chloride concentration equals 105? Is less than 105? Is at most 105?
b) What is the probability that chloride concentration differs from the mean by more than 1 standard deviation? Does this
probability depend on the values of μ and σ?
c) How would you characterize the most extreme 0.1% of chloride concentration values?
STA2EA1 (University of Johannesburg) Distribution Theory Part 2 2026

Exercise 9
There are two machines available for cutting corks intended for use in wine bottles. The first produces corks with diam eters
that are normally distributed with mean 3 cm and standard deviation 0.1 cm. The second machine produces corks with
diameters that have a normal distribution with mean 3.04 cm and standard deviation 0.02 cm. Acceptable corks have
diameters between 2.9 cm and 3.1 cm.
a) Which machine is more likely to produce an acceptable cork?
b) If 60% of all corks used come from the first machine and a randomly selected cork is found to be acceptable, what is the
probability that it was produced by the first machine?

Exercise 10

The automatic opening device of a military cargo parachute has been designed to open when the parachute is 200m above
the ground. Suppose opening altitude actually has a normal distribution with mean value 200m and standard deviation 30m.
Equipment dam age will occur if the parachute opens at an altitude of less than 100m. What is the probability that there is
equipment damage to the payload of at least one of five independently dropped parachutes?

Exercise 11
If bolt thread length is normally distributed, what is the probability that the thread length of a randomly selected bolt is

a) Within 1.5 SDs of its mean value?

Exercise 12
The temperature reading from a thermocouple placed in a constant-temperature medium is normally distributed with mean
μ, the actual temperature of the medium, and standard deviation σ. What would the value of s have to be to ensure that
95% of all readings are within 0.1° of μ?

Exercise 13

A machine that produces ball bearings has initially been set so that the true average diameter of the bearings it produces is
0.500 in. A bearing is acceptable if its diameter is within 0.004 in. of this target value. Suppose, however, that the setting
has changed during the course of production, so that the bearings have normally distributed diameters with mean value
0.499 in. and standard deviation 0.002 in. What percentage of the bearings produced will not be acceptable?

Exercise 14
The weight distribution of parcels sent in a certain manner is normal with mean value 1 lb and standard deviation 3.5 lb. The
parcel service wishes to establish a weight value c beyond which there will be a surcharge. What value of c is such that
99% of all parcels are at least 1lb under the surcharge weight?
STA2EA1 (University of Johannesburg) Distribution Theory Part 2 2026

Exercise 16
The distribution of resistance for resistors of a specific type is known to follow a normal distribution. Ten percent of all
resistors exhibit resistance exceeding 10.256 ohms, while five percent possess resistance below 9.671 ohms. What are the
mean and standard deviation of this resistance distribution?
Exercise 17
A soft drink machine can be regulated to discharge an average of m ounces per cup. If the ounces of fill are normally
distributed, with standard deviation equal to 0.3 ounce, give the setting for m so that 8-ounce cups will overflow only 1% of
the time.
Exercise 18
A used-car dealership has found that the length of time before a major repair is required on the cars it sells is normally
distributed with a mean equal to 10 months and a standard deviation of 3 months. If the dealer wants only 5% of the cars to
fail before the end of the guarantee period, for how many months should the cars be guaranteed?
Exercise 19
The life span of a type of automatic washer is approximately normally distributed with mean and standard deviation equal to
10.5 and 3.0 years, respectively. If this type of washer is guaranteed for a period of 5 years, what fraction will need to be
repaired and/or replaced?
Exercise 20
Coffee beans are packed into bags by the workers on a farm, and each bag claims to contain 200g. The actual mass of
coffee beans in a bag is normally distributed with mean 210g and standard deviation σ. The farm owner informs the workers
that they must repack any bag containing less than 200g of coffee beans.
Find the value of σ, given that 0.5% of the bags must be repacked.
Exercise 21
Colleen exercises at home every day. The length of time she does this is normally distributed with mean 12.8 minutes and
standard deviation σ. She exercises for more than 15 minutes on 42 days in a year of 365 days.
a) Calculate the value of σ.
b) On how many days in a year would you expect Colleen to exercise for less than 10 minutes?
Exercise 22
The time taken in seconds for Ginger’s computer to open a specific large document is normally distributed with mean 9 and
variance 5.91.
a) Find the probability that it takes exactly 5 seconds or more to open the document.
b) Ginger opens the document on her computer on n occasions. The probability that it fails to open in less than exactly 5
seconds on at least one occasion is greater than 0.5. Find the least possible value of n.

*** This is the last tutorial lecture; there will be no tutorial 9 (Uniform distribution, these are basic examples that will be done in class). Hence,
please attempt exercises 2 and 7 and Example 4.6 and 4.8 in Chapter 4. Solutions can be found in class.

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