Topic 9 – Discrete Probability Distribution

(Binomial Distribution)

1. Team A has probability of 2/3 winning whenever

it plays. If A plays 4 games, find the probability
that A wins (i) exactly 2 games, (ii) at least 1
game, (iii) more than half of the games.

2. A family has 6 children. Find the probability P

that there are (i) 3 boys and 3 girls, (ii) fewer boys
than girls. Assume that the probability of any
particular child being a boy is 1/2.

3. How many dice must be thrown so that there is a

better than even chance of obtaining a six?

4. The probability of a man hitting a target is 1/4. (i)

If he fires 7 times, what is the probability P of his
hitting the target at least twice? (ii) How many
times must he fire so that the probability of his
hitting the target at least once is greater than
2/3?

5. Determine the expected number of boys in a

family with 8 children, assuming the sex
distribution to be equally probable. What is the
probability that the expected number of boys
does occur?
6. The probability is 0.02 that an item produced by
a factory is defective. A shipment of 10,000
items is sent to its warehouse. Find the expected
number E of defective items and the standard
deviation σ.

7. A card is drawn and replaced three times from an

ordinary deck of 52 cards. Find the probability
that (i) two hearts are drawn, (ii) three hearts are
drawn, (iii) at least one heart is drawn.

8. A baseball player's batting average is 0.300. If he

comes to bat 4 times, what is the probability that
he will get (i) two hits, (ii) at least one hit?

9. A box contains 3 red marbles and 2 white

marbles. A marble is drawn and replaced three
times from the box. Find the probability that (i) 1
red marble was drawn, (ii) 2 red marbles were
drawn, (iii) at least one red marble was drawn.
 10. Team A has probability of 2/5 winning whenever
it plays. If A plays 4 games, find the probability
that A wins (i) 2 games, (ii) at least 1 game, (iii)
more than half of the games.

11. A card is drawn and replaced in an ordinary deck

of 52 cards. How many times must a card be
drawn so that (i) there is at least an even chance
of drawing a heart, (ii) the probability of drawing a
heart is greater than 3/4?

12. The probability of a man hitting a target is 1/3. (i) If

he fires 5 times, what is the probability of hitting
the target at least twice? (ii) How many times must
he fire so that the probability of hitting the target at
least once is more than 90%.

13. The mathematics department has 8 graduate

assistants who are assigned to the same office.
Each assistant is just as likely to study at home as
in the office. How many desks must there be in the
office so that each assistant has a desk at least
90% of the time?
14. Of the bolts produced by a factory, 2% are
defective. In a shipment of 3600 bolts from the
factory, find the expected number of defective
bolts and the standard deviation.

15. A fair die is tossed 1620 times. Find the expected

number of times the face 6 occurs and the
standard deviation.

16. Let X be a binomially distributed random variable

with E(X) = 2 and Var (X) = 4/3. Find the distribution
of X.

Topic 10 - Discrete Probability Distribution

(Poisson Distribution)

1. Vehicles pass through a junction on a busy road

at an average rate of 300 vehicles per hour.
a) Determine the average number of vehicles
passing through the junction per minute.
b) What is the probability that no vehicle passes
through the junction in a given minute?
c) What is the probability that no vehicle passes
through the junction in a given hour?
d) What is the expected number of vehicles
passing in: 3 minutes, 10 seconds,1.5 hours
e) What is the probability that exactly 2 vehicles
pass in 3 minutes?
f) What is the probability that fewer than 5
vehicles pass in 3 minutes?
g) What is the probability that more than 20
vehicles pass in 3 minutes?
2. Suppose 300 misprints are distributed randomly
throughout a book of 500 pages. Find the
probability P that a given page contains (i)
exactly 2 misprints, (ii) 2 or more misprints.

3. Suppose 2% of the items made by a factory are

defective. Find the probability P that there are 3
defective items in a sample of 100 items.

4. Suppose 220 misprints are distributed randomly

throughout a book of 200 pages. Find the
probability that a given page contains (i) no
misprints, (ii) 1 misprint, (iii) 2 misprints, (iv) 2 or
more misprints.

5. Suppose 1% of the items made by a machine are

defective. Find the probability that 3 or more
items are defective in a sample of 100 items.

6. Suppose 2% of the people on the average are

left-handed. Find the probability of 7 or more
left- handed among 200 people.
7. Suppose there is an average of 2 suicides per
year per 50,000 population. In a city of 100,000
find the probability that in a given year there are
(i) 0, (ii) 1, (iii) 2, (iv) 2 or more suicides.

8. In a certain region, the average rate of

contracting a particular disease is 3 cases per
year per 80,000 people. Assuming that cases
occur randomly and independently over time,
find the probability that in a city with 100,000
people, there will be:
a) Exactly 2 cases in one year
b) No cases in two years
c) At least 4 cases in one year
d) Fewer than 6 cases in three years
e) What is the expected number of people
contracting the disease in 5 years?

Topic 11 - CONTINUOUS PROBABILITY

DISTRIBUTION – NORMAL DISTIBUTION

1. The mean and standard deviation on an

examination are 74 and 12 respectively. Find the
scores in standard units of students receiving
grades (i) 65, (ii) 74, (iii) 86, (iv) 92.

2. Referring to the preceding problem, find the

grades corresponding to standard scores (i)-1, (ii)
0.5, (iii) 1.25, (iv) 1.75.
3. Let Z be a random variable that follows a
standard normal distribution. Find the
probabilities for the following:
(i) P(0 ≤ Z ≤1.42)
(ii) P(-0.73 ≤ Z ≤ 0)
(iii) P(-1.37 ≤ Z ≤ 2.01)
(iv) P(0.65 ≤ Z ≤ 1.26)
(v) P(-1.79 ≤ Z ≤ -0.54)
(vi) P(Z ≥ 1.13)
(vii) P(|Z| ≤ 0.5)

4. Suppose the temperature T during June is

normally distributed with mean 68° and standard
deviation 6°. Find the probability p that the
temperature is between 70° and 80°.

5. Last year’s freshman class at Rizal State

University totaled 5,307 students. Of those,
1,264 received a merit scholarship to help offset
tuition costs during their freshman year
(although the amount varied per student). The
amount a student received was on average of
P3,454 with standard deviation of P490. If the
cost of full tuition was P4,300 last year, what
percentage of students who received a merit
scholarship did not receive enough to cover full
tuition?
6. An investment's profit (or loss) is normally
distributed with a mean of $11,200 and a
standard deviation of $8,250. What is the
probability of a loss rather than a profit?

7. Javelin throwers Anna and Barbora have average

throw lengths of 67 m and 75 m, respectively,
and standard deviations of 6 m and 3 m,
respectively. Assume that the throw lengths have
independent normal distributions. Calculate the
probability that Anna throws further than Barbora
in one throw.

8. A factory produces precision steel rods. The rod

length X (in mm) is normally distributed but the
process is only known through a statement that
99.7% of rods lie between 99.70 mm and 100.30
mm.
a) Assuming the distribution is exactly normal
and the interval is symmetric about the mean,
find the process mean μ and standard
deviation σ.
b) Compute the probability that a single rod
length exceeds 100.25 mm.
c) The customer requires the top 2.5% longest
rods to be removed. Find the length cutoff L
such that only 2.5% of rods exceed L.
d) After a temporary drift, the process mean
shifts to μ+0.08 mm with the same σ. For a
randomly chosen rod, compute the increase
in the probability it exceeds the original cutoff
L found in (c).
9. Suppose the heights H of 800 students are
normally distributed with mean 66 inches and
standard deviation 5 inches. Find the number N
of students with heights (i) between 65 and 70
inches, (ii) greater than or equal to 6 feet (72
inches).

10. A fair coin is tossed 12 times. Determine the

probability P that the number of heads occurring
is between 4 and 7 inclusive by using (i) the
binomial distribution, (ii) the normal
approximation to the binomial distribution.
(approx. to binomial distrib)

11. A fair die is tossed 180 times. Find the probability

P that the face 6 will appear (i) between 29 and
32 times inclusive, (ii) between 31 and 35 times
inclusive. (approx. to binomial distrib)

12. Among 10,000 random digits, find the probability

P that the digit 3 appears at most 950 times.
(approx. to binomial distrib)
13. Suppose the weights of 2000 male students are
normally distributed with mean 155 pounds and
standard deviation 20 pounds. Find the number
of students with weights (i) less than or equal to
100 pounds, (ii) between 120 and 130 pounds,
(iii) between 150 and 175 pounds, (iv) greater
than or equal to 200 pounds.

14. Suppose the diameters of bolts manufactured by

a company are normally distributed with mean
0.25 inches and standard deviation 0.02 inches.
A bolt is considered defective if its diameter is ≤
0.20 inches or ≥ 0.28 inches. Find the percentage
of defective bolts manufactured by the company.

15. Suppose the scores on an examination are

normally distributed with mean 76 and standard
deviation 15. The top 15% of the students receive
A's and the bottom 10% receive F's. Find (i) the
minimum score to receive an A and (ii) the
minimum score to pass (not to receive an F).
 Approx. to binomial distrib, normal distrib
method
16. A fair die is tossed 720 times. Find the probability
that the face 6 will occur (i) between 100 and 125
times inclusive, (ii) more than 150 times.

17. Among 625 random digits, find the probability

that the digit 7 appears (i) between 50 and 60
times inclusive, (ii) between 60 and 70 times
inclusive.
18.

Topic 12 - CONTINUOUS PROBABILITY

DISTRIBUTION – EXPONENTIAL DISTIBUTION

1. If a call center receives calls at an average rate of 3

per hour. (a) What is the probability the next call
arrives within 10 minutes? (b) What is the probability
the next call takes more than 30 minutes?
(c) Probability the next call arrives between 5 and 20
minutes

(d) If 15 minutes have already passed without a call,

what is the probability that you will wait at least
another 20 minutes for the call?

(e) 80% of the time, a call will arrive within ___

minutes

2. The lifetime of a machine follows an exponential

distribution with mean 5 years. Two such machines
are purchased and operate independently. What is
the probability that the shorter-lived machine fails
within 3 years?

3. The lifetime of a smartphone battery (in hours)

follows an exponential distribution with mean 12
hours. If a battery has already lasted 8 hours, what is
the probability that it will last at least 5 more hours?

4. A brand of computer has an exponentially

distributed lifetime with average 4 years. (a) Find the
median lifetime. (b) What percentage of computers
last longer than the median?

5. A certain photocopier has an exponentially

distributed lifetime with a rate of 0.25 failures per
year. What is the probability that it will last between 2
and 5 years?
6. Suppose two laptops, A and B, have independent
exponentially distributed lifetimes, each with mean 6
years. What is the probability that at least one of
them lasts more than 10 years?

7. A light bulb has an exponentially distributed

lifetime with mean 1000 hours. (a) What is the
probability that it lasts at least 2000 hours? (b) If it
has already lasted 1000 hours, what is the probability
it lasts another 1000 hours?

8. Calls arrive at a help desk at a rate of 5 calls per

hour. (a) What is the probability that no calls arrive
within the next 15 minutes? (b) What is the probability
that the time between two calls is less than 5
minutes?

9. A radioactive particle has a half-life of 2 hours, and

its decay time follows an exponential distribution. (a)
Find the rate parameter. (b) What is the probability
that a particle survives more than 4 hours?
10. Buses arrive at a terminal according to an
exponential distribution, with an average of 1 bus
every 12 minutes.

a) What is the probability that the next bus arrives

within 5 minutes?
b) What is the probability that you wait more than 15
minutes for a bus?
c) What is the probability that the next bus arrives
between 8 and 20 minutes?
d) If you have already waited 10 minutes without a
bus, what is the probability you will wait at least
another 12 minutes?
e) Find the time t such that 90% of buses arrive
within t minutes.

11. A factory machine breaks down following an

exponential distribution with an average time
between breakdowns of 4 hours.

a) What is the probability that the machine breaks

down within 2 hours?
b) What is the probability that it lasts more than 6
hours without a breakdown?
c) What is the probability that the breakdown
happens between 1 and 5 hours?
d) If the machine has already operated for 3 hours
without failure, what is the probability it lasts at
least 4 more hours?
e) Find the number of hours t such that there is at
least an 80% chance the machine lasts beyond t
hours.