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Assignment 1 (Remediation Period)
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Affan Shoukat. York University. Not to be reproduced or redistributed. 1
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Question 1. When coin 1 is flipped, it lands on heads with probability 0.4; when coin 2 is flipped,
it lands on heads with probability 0.7. One of these coins is randomly chosen and flipped 10
times. What is the probability that the coin lands on heads on exactly 7 of the 10 flips. State all
theorems, laws, and principles you used to justify your answer. (textbook 4.50)
Students must show more work than what’s in this solution.
1 10 7 3 1 10
(0.4) (0.6) + (0.7)7 (0.3)3
2 7 2 7
Question 2. A random variable X is said to follow the distribution of Benford’s Law if
i+1
P (X = i) = log10 , i = 1, 2, 3, . . . , 9
i
P9
**(a)** Verify that the above is a probability mass function by showing that i=1 P (X = i) = 1.
**(b)** Find P (X ≤ j). Simplify as much as you can. (textbook 4.11)
Part (a) !
9 9
X i+1 Y i+1
log10 = log10 = log10 (10) = 1
i=1
i i=1
i
Part (b)
j j
!
X i+1 Y i+1
P (X ≤ j) = log10 = log10 = log10 (j + 1), 1 ≤ j ≤ 9
i=1
i i=1
i
Affan Shoukat. York University. Not to be reproduced or redistributed. 2
Do not write above this line!
Question 3. Let X be a random variable having expected value µ and variance σ 2 . Find the
expected value and variance of
X −µ
Y =
σ
(textbook TE 4.7)
Expected Value:
1
E[Y ] = E[X/σ − µ/σ] = E[X] − µ/σ = µ/σ − µ/σ = 0
σ
Variance:
Var(Y ) = (1/σ)2 Var(X) = σ 2 /σ 2 = 1.
Question 4. A family has n children with probability αpn , n ≥ 1 where α ≤ 1−p p
.
**(a)** What proportion of families has no children?
**(b)** If each child is equally likely to be a boy or a girl (independently of each other), what
proportion of families consists of k boys (and any number of girls).
Part (a)
∞
X αp
1− αpn = 1 −
1
1−p
Part (b) Condition on the number of children. For k > 0,
∞
X
P (k boys) = P (k | n children)αpn (1)
n=1
∞ n
X n 1
= αpn (2)
n=1
k 2
and for 0 boys,
∞
αp X
P (0 boys) = 1 − + αpn (1/2)n
1 − p n=1
Affan Shoukat. York University. Not to be reproduced or redistributed. 3
