BAMAT207-Probability and Statistics
Tutorial sheet-2A
Module2: Probability Distributions
Easy
1) The mean of a geometric distribution is 4. Determine the geometric
distribution.
Ans: X ~ Geometric (1/4)
2) Fit a Bernoulli distribution.
Outcome(x) 0 1
Frequency(f) 18 42
Ans: X ~ Bernoulli (0.7)
3) If the number X of particles emitted during a 1-h period from a radioactive
source has a Poisson distribution with parameter λ = 4 and that the
probability that any emitted particle is recorded is p = 0.9, find the
probability distribution of the number Y of the particles recorded in a 1-h
period and hence the probability that no particle is recorded.
Ans: 0.0273
Medium
1) The mean and variance of a binomial distribution are 4 and 4/3 respectively.
Find P(X ≥ 1), if n = 6.
Ans: 728/729
2) Fit a Poisson distribution for the following distribution and hence find the
expected frequencies.
x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
f 314 335 204 86 29 9 3
Ans: 301, 362, 217, 87, 26, 6,1
3) A set of 6 similar coins are tossed 640 times with the following results:
Number of heads 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Frequency 7 64 140 210 132 75 12
Calculate the binomial frequencies on the assumption that the coins are
symmetrical.
Ans: 10, 60, 150, 200, 150, 60, 10
4) Customers of an internet service provider initiate new accounts at the
average of 10 accounts per day.
(a) What is the probability that more than 8 new accounts will be initiated
today?
(b) What is the probability that more than 16 accounts will be initiated
within 2 days?
Ans: a) 0.667, b) 0.779
5) It is known that the probability of an item produced by a certain machine
will be defective is 0.05. If the produced items are sent to the market in
packets of 20, find the number of packets containing at least, exactly and at
most 2 defective items in a consignment of 1000 packets using binomial
distribution.
Ans: 925
6) If the probability that an applicant for a driver's licence will pass the road
test on any given trial is 0.8, what is the probability that he will finally pass
the test (a) on the fourth trial and (b) in fewer than 4 trials?
Ans: (a) 0.0064, (b) 0.9984
Hard
1) A and B shoot independently until each has hit his own target. The
probabilities of their hitting the target at each shot are 3/5 and 2/7
respectively. Find the probability that B will require more shots than A.
Ans: 6/31
2) The probability that a particular stock gives profit on exactly 2 days out of
5 trading days is 0.2048.
Find:
a) the probability that the stock gives profit on any given day
b) the probability that the stock gives profit on at least 3 days
Answer: a) C(5,2)p²(1−p)³ = 0.2048 ⇒ p = 0.2,
b) P(X ≥ 3) = P(3) + P(4) + P(5)
3) It is observed that the probability of no accident case arriving in an hour is
0.1353.
a) Find the average number of accident cases per hour.
b) Find the probability that exactly 2 accident cases arrive in an hour.
c) Find the probability that at least one accident case arrives in an hour.
Answer: a) λ =2, b) P(X=2) = 0.2707, c) P(X ≥1) = 0.8647
4) Establish the memoryless property of geometric distribution, that is, if X
is a discrete RV following a geometric distribution, then
𝑃(𝑋 > 𝑚 + 𝑛|(𝑋 > 𝑚) = 𝑃(𝑋 > 𝑛)|)
where m and n are any two positive integers. Prove the converse also, if it
is true.