Supposethattheprobabilityofadefectinafootofmagnetictapeis0.002.

Usethe
Poissonapproximationtocomputetheprobabilitythata1,500footrollwillhaveno
defects.

Aninsurancecompanyinsures3,000people,eachofwhomhasa1/1,000chanceofan
accidentin1year.UsethePoissonapproximationtocomputetheprobabilitythatthere
willbeatmost2accidents.

Fourpeoplearechosenatrandomfrom5couples.Whatistheprobabilitythattwomen
andtwowomenareselected?

Inacartonof12eggs,2arerotten.Ifwepick4eggstomakeanomelet,whatisthe
probabilitythatwedonotgetarottenegg?

Thefollowingprobabilityproblemaroseinacourtcaseconcerningpossible
discriminationagainstblacknurses.26whitenursesand9blacknursestookanexam.All
thewhitenursespassedbutonly4oftheblacknursesdid.Whatistheprobabilitythatwe
wouldgetthisoutcomeifthefivenurseswhofailedwerechosenatrandom?

Inakindergartenclassof20students,onechildispickedeachdaytohelpservethe
morningsnack.Whatistheprobabilitythatin1weekfivedifferentchildrenarechosen?

Supposewerolltwodice.Whatistheprobabilitythatthesumis7giventhatneitherdie
showeda6?

Supposeyoudraw5cardsoutofadeckof52andget2spadesand3hearts.Whatisthe
probabilitythatthefirstcarddrawnwasaspade?

Anurncontains8red,7blue,and5greenballs.Youdrawouttwoballsandtheyare
differentcolors.Giventhis,whatistheprobabilitythatthetwoballswereredandblue?

A,B,andCareeventswithP(A)=0.3,P(B)=0.4,andP(C)=0.5,AandBaredisjoint,
AandCareindependent,andP(B|C)=0.1.FindP(A B C).

19.Youandafriendeachrolltwodice.Whatistheprobabilitythatyoubothhavethe
sametwonumbers?

24.Johntakesthebuswithprobability0.3andthesubwaywithprobability0.7.Heislate
40%ofthetimewhenhetakesthebus,butonly20%ofthetimewhenhetakesthe
subway.Whatistheprobabilitythatheislateforwork?

31.Twoboys,CharlieandDoug,taketurnsrollingtwodicewithCharliegoingfirst.If
Charlierollsa6beforeDougrollsa7hewins.WhatistheprobabilitythatCharliewins?

36.Binarydigits,thatis,0sand1s,aresentdownanoisycommunicationschannel.
Theyarereceivedassentwithprobability0.9buterrorsoccurwithprobability0.1.
Assumingthat0sand1sareequallylikely,whatistheprobabilitythata1wassent
giventhatwereceiveda1?

37.Toimprovethereliabilityofthechanneldescribedinthelastexample,werepeat
eachdigitinthemessagethreetimes.Whatistheprobabilitythat111wassentgiventhat
(a)wereceived101?(b)Wereceived000?

39.Acabwasinvolvedinahitandrunaccidentatnight.Twocabcompaniesgreenand
blueoperate85%and15%ofthecabsinthecityrespectively.Awitnessidentifiedthe
cabasblue.However,inatestonly80%ofwitnesseswereabletocorrectlyidentifythe
cabcolor.Giventhiswhatistheprobabilitythatthecabinvolvedintheaccidentwas
blue?

47Astudentistakingamultiplechoiceexaminwhicheachquestionhasfourpossible

answers.Sheknowstheanswersto60%ofthequestionsandguessesattheothers.What
istheprobabilitythatsheguessedgiventhatshegotquestion12right?

59.Considerthefollowingdataontrafficaccidents:
Agegroup162526454665>65
%ofdrivers15
35
35
15
Accidentprobability0.10
0.04
0.06
0.08Calculate(a)theprobabilitythatarandomlychosendriverwillhaveanaccidentthis
year,and(b)theprobabilitythatadriverisbetween46and65giventhattheyhadan
accident.

62.Compute(a)P(X=1|Y=1)and(b)P(X=2|Y=2)forthefollowingjointdistribution:
YX=123
.

1 0.10.20.3

2 0.150.150

3 0.0500.05

64.Usingthecluesgivenbelow,fillintherestofthejointdistribution.Thereisonlyone
answer.
YX=0361???20.10.05?
(a)P(Y=2|X=0)=1/4,(b)XandYareindependent.

2.Considerf(x)=c(1x2)for1<x<1and0otherwise.Whatvalueofcshouldwetaketomake
fadensityfunction?

3.SupposeXhasdensityfunction6x(1 x)for0<x<1and0otherwise.Find(a)EX,
(b)E(X2),and(c)var(X).

7.LetF(x)=e 1/xforx>0andF(x)=0forx0.IsFadistributionfunction?Ifso,findits
densityfunction.

10.SupposeXhasdensityfunctionf(x)=4x3for0<x<1and0otherwise.Find(a)the
distributionfunction,(b)P(X<1/2),(c)P(1/3<X<2/3),and(d)themedian.

13.SupposeXhasaPoissondistributionwith =ln2.FindallthemediansofX.