Exercises Lecture 3
1. A life insurance company will sell a $200,000 one-year term life insurance policy to an individual in a
particular risk group for a premium of $195. Find the expected value to the company of a single policy if a
person in this risk group has a 99.97% chance of surviving one year.
2. Determine whether the table is a valid probability distribution of a discrete random variable. Explain fully.
a.
x -2 0 2 4
P(x) 0,3 0,5 0,2 0,1
b.
x 0,5 0,25 0,25
P(x) -0,4 0,6 0,8
c.
x 1,1 2,5 4,1 4,6 5,3
P(x) 0,16 0,14 0,11 0,27 0,22
d.
x 0 1 2 3 4
P(x) -0,25 0,50 0,35 0,10 0,30
e.
x 25 26 27 28 29
P(x) 0,13 0,27 0,28 0,18 0,14
3. A discrete random variable X has the following probability distribution:
x 77 78 79 80 81
P(x) 0,15 0,15 0,20 0,40 0,10
Compute each of the following quantities.
a. P (80) .
b. P(X > 80).
c. P(X ≤ 80).
d. The mean μ of X.
e. The variance σ 2 of X.
f. The standard deviation σ of X.
4. A discrete random variable X has the following probability distribution:
x 13 18 20 24 27
P(x) 0,22 0,25 0,20 0,17 0,16
Compute each of the following quantities.
a. P (18) .
b. P(X > 18).
c. P(X ≤ 18).
d. The mean μ of X.
e. The variance σ 2 of X.
f. The standard deviation σ of X.
5. Borachio works in an automotive tire factory. The number X is blemished tires that he produces on a random
day, has the probability distribution
x 2 3 4 5
P(x) 0,48 0,36 0,12 0,04
a. Find the probability that Borachio will produce more than three blemished tires tomorrow.
b. Find the probability that Borachio will produce at most two blemished tires tomorrow.
c. Compute the mean and standard deviation of X. Interpret the mean in the context of the problem.
6. The number X of days in the summer months that a construction crew cannot work because of the weather
has the probability distribution:
x 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
P(x) 0,03 0,08 0,15 0,20 0,19 0,16 0,10 0,07 0,02
a. Find the probability that no more than ten days will be lost next summer.
b. Find the probability that from 8 to 12 days will be lost next summer.
c. Find the probability that no days at all will be lost next summer.
d. Compute the mean and standard deviation of X. Interpret the mean in the context of the problem.
7. Let X denote the number of boys in a randomly selected three-child family. Assuming that boys and girls are
equally likely, construct the probability distribution of X.
8. Five thousand lottery tickets are sold for $1 each. One ticket will win $1,000, two tickets will win $500 each,
and ten tickets will win $100 each. Let X denote the net gain from the purchase of a randomly selected ticket.
a. Construct the probability distribution of X.
b. Compute the expected value E (X) of X. Interpret its meaning.
c. Compute the standard deviation σ of X.
9. An insurance company will sell a $90,000 one-year term life insurance policy to an individual in a particular
risk group for a premium of $478. Find the expected value to the company of a single policy if a person in this
risk group has a 99.62% chance of surviving one year.
10. X is a binomial random variable with parameters n = 12 and p = 0.82. Compute the probability indicated.
a. P (11)
b. P (9)
c. P (0)
d. P (13)
11. X is a binomial random variable with parameters n = 5, p = 0.5. Compute the probability indicated.
a. P(X ≤ 3)
b. P(X ≥ 3)
c. P (3)
d. P (0)
e. P (5)
12. X is a binomial random variable with the parameters shown. Compute the probability indicated.
a. n = 5, p = 0.05, P(X ≤ 1)
b. n = 5, p = 0.5, P(X ≤ 1)
c. n = 10, p = 0.75, P(X ≤ 5)
d. n = 10, p = 0.75, P (12)
e. n = 10, p = 0. 6⎯⎯, P (5 ≤ X ≤ 8)
13. X is a binomial random variable with the parameters shown. Use the special formulas to compute its mean μ
and standard deviation σ.
a. n = 8, p = 0.43
b. n = 47, p = 0.82
c. n = 1200, p = 0.44
d. n = 2100, p = 0.62
14. A coin is bent so that the probability that it lands heads up is 2/3. The coin is tossed ten times.
a. Find the probability that it lands heads up at most five times.
b. Find the probability that it lands heads up more times than it lands tails up.
15. An English-speaking tourist visits a country in which 30% of the population speaks English. He needs to ask
someone directions.
a. Find the probability that the first person he encounters will be able to
speak English.
b. The tourist sees four local people standing at a bus stop. Find the
probability that at least one of them will be able to speak English.
16. The probability that an egg in a retail package is cracked or broken is 0.025.
a. Find the probability that a carton of one dozen eggs contains no eggs that
are either cracked or broken.
b. Find the probability that a carton of one dozen eggs has (i) at least one that is either cracked or broken; (ii)
at least two that are cracked or broken.
c. Find the average number of cracked or broken eggs in one dozen cartons.
17. An appliance store sells 20 refrigerators each week. Ten percent of all purchasers of a refrigerator buy an
extended warranty. Let X denote the number of the next 20 purchasers who do so.
a. Verify that X satisfies the conditions for a binomial random variable, and find n and p.
b. Find the probability that X is zero.
c. Find the probability that X is two, three, or four.
d. Find the probability that X is at least five.
18. About 2% of alumni give money upon receiving a solicitation from the college or university from which they
graduated. Find the average number monetary gifts a college can expect from every 2,000 solicitations it
sends.
19. Of all college students who are eligible to give blood, about 18% do so on a regular basis. Each month a local
blood bank sends an appeal to give blood to 250 randomly selected students. Find the average number of
appeals in such mailings that are made to students who already give blood.
20. A multiple-choice exam has 20 questions; there are four choices for each question.
a. A student guesses the answer to every question. Find the chance that he guesses correctly between four
and seven times.
b. Find the minimum score the instructor can set so that the probability that
a student will pass just by guessing is 20% or less.
