Additional Exercises

Chapter 2 Rice
1. Two coins are tossed simultaneously. Let X denote the number of heads
observed. Determine the frequency function of X.

2. A red and a black die are rolled simultaneously. Let Y denote the sum of the
numbers yielded by the two dice. Determine the frequency function of Y.

3. A random variable X has the following frequency function:

k
p(x) = , x = 0,1,……,9
10
i) Determine the value of k.
ii) Calculate F(4)

4. A box contains 5 balls of which 3 are red and 2 are green. Two balls are
selected with replacement. Determine the frequency function of X, where X
denotes the number of red balls observed.

5. A box contains 5 balls of which 3 are red and 2 are green. Two balls are
selected without replacement. Determine the frequency function of X, where X
denotes the number of red balls observed.

6. A salesman figures that each contact results in a sale with probability equal to
0,2. During a given day, he contacts two prospective clients and records, for
each, whether a sale has been made. Let Y denote the number of clients who
sign a sales contract. Find the frequency function of Y.

7. A random variable X has the following frequency function:

X 0 1 2 3 4 5
p(x) 0,1 0,3 k 0,1 0,05 0,05

i) Find the value of k.

ii) Calculate the cumulative distribution function of X.
iii) Find p(3,5)
iv) Find F(3)
v) Find F(3,5)

8. A balanced coin is tossed 6 times. Let X denote the number of heads and
calculate the following:
i) P(X = 1)
ii) P(X ≥ 4)
iii) P(X < 3)

9. Team A has a probability of 0,67 of winning whenever it plays. Let X denote

the number of games that the team wins. If A plays 5 games, find the
following:

37
 i) P(X ≤ 3)
ii) P(1 ≤ X < 3)

10. The manager of an apartment building knows that 12% of the tenants are late
in making their monthly payments. If there are eight tenants, calculate the
probability that
i) one tenant is late in paying his rent
ii) at least two tenants are late with their payments.

11. Over a long period of time it has been observed that a given rifleman can hit a
target on a single trial with probability 0,8. Suppose that he fires four shots at
the target. What is the probability that he will hit the target
i) exactly four times?
ii) At least twice?

12. A new surgical procedure is said to be successful 80% of the time. Suppose
that the operation is performed five times and the results are assumed to be
independent of one another. What is the probability that
i) all five operations are successful?
ii) exactly four are successful?
iii) less than two are successful?

13. On the average a certain intersection results in 3 traffic accidents per month.
What is the probability that in any given month
i) exactly five accidents will occur at this intersection
ii) less than three accidents will occur?

14. A fire station receives on average three fire alarm calls per normal weekday.
The station has five fire engines, each with its own fire fighting team.
i) What is the probability of there being exactly two fire alarm calls
on a specific day?
ii) What is the probability of there being more than 1 fire alarm calls
within a period of three hours?

15. Customers arrive at a bank on Fridays at an average of 50 per hour. What is

the probability that exactly 20 customers will arrive on a Friday during a given
15 minute period?

16. Suppose flaws in a certain cloth follow a Poisson distribution with an average
of one flaw per 20 m2. Calculate the probability of no flaws in a piece of 10
m2.

17. What is the probability that a waitress will refuse to serve alcohol to only two
minors if she randomly checks the IDs of 6 students from among 9 students of
which 4 are not of legal age?

18. A bag contains nine oranges. Five of the oranges are good and four are bad.
Five children each take an orange at random from the bag. What is the
probability that the children took at most two bad oranges?

38
19. From a lot of 12 missiles 5 are selected at random and fired. If the lot contains
three defective missiles that will not fire, what is the probability that
i) all 5 will fire?
ii) at least two will not fire?

20. Suppose X ~ N(25,9). Calculate

i) P(X < 22)
ii) P(X > 28)
iii) P(22 < X < 25)

21. The lifetime of a certain type of tree is normally distributed with a mean of 3
years and a standard deviation of 0,5 years. Calculate the probability that a
randomly selected tree will have a lifetime
i) less than 2,5 years
ii) longer than 3 years

22. Suppose you know from experience that the shell lengths of lobsters found at
fish markets in Cape Town are normally distributed with mean length of 60
mm and a standard deviation of 5 mm. If you select one lobster from those at
the markets, what is the probability that
i) the shell length will be less than 55 mm?
ii) The shell length will be between 54 and 58 mm ?

23. A cellular phone has an average lifetime of 3 years with a standard deviation
of 0,5 year. Suppose that the lifetimes are normally distributed and calculate
the probability that a given cellular phone
i) has a lifetime less than 2,3 years
ii) has a lifetime more than 3,5 years

24. Suppose X ~ N(25,9). Calculate the value of b if

i) P (X < b) = 0,66276
ii) P(X < b) = 0,06681

25. Suppose the diameter of a certain species of tree in Africa is normally

distributed with a mean µ and a standard deviation σ = 40 cm. Calculate the
mean diameter of the trees in this forest if it is known that 2,28% of the trees
in this forest have a diameter greater than 240 cm.

26. The time required for a security guard to lock all the doors is a variable having
a normal distribution with a standard deviation of 3,4 minutes. There is a
probability of 0,18943 that the guard will lock the doors in less than 15
minutes. Calculate the mean time that it will take the guard to lock all the
doors.

27. The mass of Easter eggs manufactured in a factory is normally distributed.

Last week 6,67% of the eggs weighed less than 90,5 g and 4% weighed more
than 100,25 g. Calculate the mean and the variance of the distribution of the
masses.

39
28. Suppose the blood pressure X of a certain population is normally distributed
with mean µ and standard deviation σ . It is known that P(X > 100) = 0,9222
and P(X > 130) = 0,14007. Calculate µ and σ .

29. Suppose the masses of 300 students, in kg, are N(68, 9) distributed. Find the
number of students with masses
i) more than 72 kg.
ii) between 69 and 73 kg.

30. The percentages obtained in an examination are normally distributed with

mean 76% and standard deviation 15%. The top 15% of the students receive
an A and the bottom 10% receives a F and fail. Find
i) the minimum percentage to receive an A
ii) the minimum percentage to pass.

31. Consider the random variable X with density function

Γ(a + b) a −1
fX (x) = x (1 − x) b −1 0 ≤ x ≤ 1
Γ(a )Γ(b)
where a > 0 and b > 0.
Let Y = -lnX. Find the density function of Y.

40