Exam 2 Sample Problems

1. In a 1 pound bag of skittles the possible colors were red, green, yellow, orange, and purple. The
probability of drawing a particular color from that bag is given below.
Color Probability
Red 0.1764
Green 0.2109
Orange ?
Yellow .1045
Purple .3055
a. What is the probability of selecting an Orange skittle?
b. What is the probability of selecting a Red or Green skittle?
c. What is the probability of not selecting a Yellow skittle?
d. What is the probability of selecting a Blue skittle?
e. What skittle color is the most likely?

2. You have 27 songs on your MP3 player and randomly select one to play. One song is your
favorite.
a. What is the chance that your favorite song will be the one to play?
b. When it finishes, you again randomly select a song to play, and it’s the same one! What
is the chance of this happening?
c. After you select a song at random 3 times, what is the chance that your favorite song
will not play any of those times?

3. The median annual household income for U.S. households is about $56,516. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau,
www.census.gov.] (Note: for these problems, think about the meaning of the word “median”)
a. Among five randomly selected U.S. households, find the probability that four or more have
incomes exceeding $56,516 per year.
b. Create a probability distribution (table) for the situation in (a)

c. Consider a random sample of 16 U.S. households.

i. What is the expected number (mean) of households with annual incomes under
$56.516?
ii. What is the standard deviation of the number of households with annual incomes under
$56,516?
iii. What is the probability of getting at least 10 out of the 16 households with annual
incomes under $56,516?
4. According to government data, the probability than an adult never had the flu is 11%. You
randomly select 53 adults and ask if he or she ever had the flu. Using the binomial functions,
a. Find the probability that 3 people never had the flu.

b. Find the probability that 48 people DID have the flu.

c. Find the probability of at least 4 people never having the flu.

d. Find the probability of more than 2 people never having the flu.

e. Find the probability of less than 5 people never having the flu.

f. Find the probability of 6-9 people never having the flu.

g. Give the mean of this binomial random variable

h. Give the standard deviation of this binomial random variable

i. Give the Z-score for x=25 people never had the flu

5. A study was recently done that emphasized the problem we all face with drinking and driving.
Four hundred accidents that occurred on a Saturday night were analyzed. Two items noted
were the number of vehicles involved and whether alcohol played a role in the accident. The
numbers are shown below.
Number of Vehicles Involved
Did alcohol Play a role? 1 2 3 Totals
Yes 51 98 21 170
No 30 175 25 230
Totals 81 273 46 400
-Suppose we Randomly select 1 accident from the table above:
a. What is the probability that alcohol played a role and 2 cars were involved?
b. What is the probability that 1 car was involved?
c. What is the probability that alcohol didn’t play a role?
d. What is the probability that alcohol didn’t play a role or three cars were involved?

e. What is the probability that at most 2 cars were involved?

f. Assuming alcohol did not play a role, what is the probability that 3 cars were involved?

g. What is the probability that 3 cars were involved and alcohol did play a role?

h. What is the probability that 3 cars were involved or alcohol did play a role?
 i. Given that alcohol played a role, what is the probability that 1 car was involved?

j. Given that 2 cars were involved, what is the probability that alcohol did play a role?

k. Given that more than one car was involved, what is the probability that alcohol didn’t play a
role?
l. Given that 3 cars were involved, what is the probability that alcohol did not play a role?

m. Suppose we select 2 consecutive accidents from the table. What is the probability that
alcohol played a role in both of them?

n. Suppose we select 4 consecutive accidents from the table. What is the probability that 2
cars played a role in all of them?

6. Suppose a brewery has a filling machine that fills 12 ounce bottles of beer. It is known that
the amount of beer poured by this filling machine follows a normal distribution with a
mean of 12.43 ounces and a standard deviation of 0.04 ounce. Find the probability that the
bottle contains at least 12.33 ounces of beer.

7. A physical fitness association is including the mile run in its secondary-school fitness test.
The time for this event for boys in secondary school is known to possess a normal
distribution with a mean of 450 seconds and a standard deviation of 50 seconds. The fitness
association wants to recognize the fastest 10% of the boys with certificates of recognition.
What time would the boys need to beat in order to earn a certificate of recognition from the
fitness association?

8. A physical fitness association is including the mile run in its secondary-school fitness test.
The time for this event for boys in secondary school is known to possess a normal
distribution with a mean of 460 seconds and a standard deviation of 60 seconds. Find the
probability that a randomly selected boy in secondary school can run the mile in at most
322 seconds.

9. The weight of a Cardinal is normally distributed with a mean of 78 grams and a standard
deviation of 7.4 grams. What is the probability that a Cardinal will weigh at least 70 grams?
10. Assume that the heights of men are normally distributed with a mean of 67.9 inches and a
standard deviation of 2.1 inches. Find the probability that a randomly selected man is at most 7
ft tall.

11. The amount of corn chips dispensed into a 12-ounce bag by the dispensing machine has
been identified as possessing a normal distribution with a mean of 12.5 ounces and a
standard deviation of 0.2 ounce. What chip amount(in ounces) represents the 67th percentile
for the bag weight distribution?

12. The length of time it takes college students to find a parking spot in the library parking lot
follows a normal distribution with a mean of 3.5 minutes and a standard deviation of 1
minute. Find the probability that a randomly selected college student will take between 2.0
and 4.5 minutes to find a parking spot in the library lot.

13. The amount of corn chips dispensed into a 12-ounce bag by the dispensing machine has been
identified as possessing a normal distribution with a mean of 12.5 ounces and a standard
deviation of 0.2 ounce. The middle 95% of bags are between what two weights (in ounces)?

14. The weight of a Cardinal is normally distributed with a mean of 78 grams and a standard
deviation of 7.4 grams. Give the weight that represents the 80th percentile for a Cardinal.

15. Scores on a particular exam are normally distributed with a mean of 76.8 and a standard
deviation of 7.9. If your score is a 90, what is your percentile rank?
16. The weight of a Cardinal is normally distributed with a mean of 78 grams and a standard
deviation of 7.4 grams. 90% of all Cardinals are between what two weights?

17. A brewery has a beer dispensing machine that dispenses beer into the company's 12 ounce
bottles. The distribution for the amount of beer dispensed by the machine follows a normal
distribution with a standard deviation of 0.15 ounce. The company can control the mean
amount of beer dispensed by the machine. What value of the mean should the company
use if it wants to guarantee that 98.5% of the bottles contain at least 12 ounces (the amount
on the label)?

18. The tread life of a particular brand of tire is a random variable best described by a normal
distribution with a mean of 60,000 miles and a standard deviation of 2900 miles. What
warranty should the company use if they want 96% of the tires to outlast the warranty?

19. Suppose that Frieda and Anita attend different colleges. Frieda’s GPA is the same as the average
GPA at her school. Anita’s GPA is 0.70 standard deviations above her school average.
Give an example of a possible mean and a possible standard deviation for each college to show
how to make each statement FALSE.

a. Frieda’s actual GPA is lower than Anita’s actual GPA.

b. Frieda is not passing since her z-score is zero.

c. Anita is in the 70th percentile of students at her college.