SRI VIDYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VIRUDHUNAGAR COURSE MATERIAL (QUESTION BANK)

UNIT 1 - RANDOM VARIABLES

PART - A

1. A coin is tossed 2 times, if X denotes the number of heads, find the probability distribution of X.
When a coin is tossed 2 times, the possible outcomes are HH,HT, TH and TT.
The probability distribution of X is given by
X 0 1 2
P(x) ¼ 2/4 ¼
2. Let the random variable X denotes the sum obtained in rolling a pair of fair dice. Determine the
probability mass function of X.
When pair of fair dice is rolling, the possible outcomes are
(1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (1,4), (1,5), (1,6),
(2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4), (2,5), (2,6)
(3,1), (3,2), (3,3), (3,4), (3,5), (3,6)
(4,1), (4,2), (4,3), (4,4), (4,5), (4,6)
(5,1), (5,2), (5,3), (5,4), (5,5), (5,6)
(6,1), (6,2), (6,3), (6,4), (6,5), (6,6)
The probability mass function is given by
X 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P(X) 1/36 2/36 3/36 4/36 5/36 6/36 5/36 4/36 3/36 2/36 1/36
3. If X is a discrete random variable with probability distribution P(X=x)=kx, x=1,2,3,4, find P(2<x<4).
Given
X 1 2 3 4
P(x) K 2k 3k 4k
1
WKT P( x) 1 k 2k 3k 4k 1 10k 1 k
10
3
P(2 X 4) P(3) 3k
10
4. If the range of X is {0,1,2,3,4} and P(X=x)=0.2. Determine the mean and variance of the random variable.
Given
X 0 1 2 3 4
P(x) 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2

E[X]= xP (x) =0×0.2+1×0.2+2×0.2+3×0.2+4×0.2=2 E[X2]= x 2 P( x )

0×0.2+1×0.2+4×0.2+9×0.2+16×0.2=6
Mean= E[X]=2 Variacne= E[X2]-Mean2=6-4=2

x
e , x 0, 0
5. Check whether the following is a probability mass function or not. f ( x) .
0, otherwise

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SRI VIDYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VIRUDHUNAGAR COURSE MATERIAL (QUESTION BANK)

x
f ( x)dx e dx
0

x e x
e e0 1
e dx 1
0 0
f(x) is a pdf.
6. A continuous random variable X has a probability density function f(x)=3x 2,0<x<1. Find the value of a
such that P(X>a)=0.05.
P(X > a) = 0.05
1
f ( x)dx 0.05 3x 2 dx 0.05
a a
1
x3
3 0.05 1 a3 0.05
3 a

a 3 0.95 a 3 0.95
7. A continuous RV X that can assume any value between x=2 and x=5 has a density function
given by f(x)=k(1+x). Find P{X<4}.
4 4
WKT f ( x)dx 1 2
P{ X 4} f ( x)dx (1 x)dx
5 5 2
27
k (1 x) 1 k (1 x) 1 4
2 2
2 x2 2 16
x 4 2 2
2 5 27 2 2 27 2
x
k x 1
2 2
25 27 2
k 5 2 2 1 k 1 k .
2 2 27

x
1 e ,x 0
8. If a random variable X has the distribution function F ( x) , then find P{ ≤X≤ }.
0, x 0
P{ ≤X≤ }=F -F(1)=1-e- α-{1- e-α}=1-e- α-1+ e-α=e- α+ e-α.

0, x 0
1 1
9. The cumulative distribution function of a random variable X is given by F ( x) x ,0 x .
2 2
1
1, x
2
Compute P{X>1/4}
P{X>1/4}=1-P{X≤ / }= -F(1/4)=1-{1/4+1/2}=1-3/4=1/4.
2
10. If a random variable has the moment generating function M x (t ) , determine the variance of X.
2 t

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SRI VIDYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VIRUDHUNAGAR COURSE MATERIAL (QUESTION BANK)

2
M x (t ) =2(2-t)-1
2 t
2
M x ' (t ) 2(2 t ) 2 1 1
M x ' (0) 2 2 2
2
3
M x " (t ) 4(2 t ) 1 3 4 4
M x " (0). 4(2)
2 23 8
1 1 1 1
Mean= M x ' (0) Variance= M x " (0) Mean 2 .
2 2 4 4
2(1 x),0 x 1
11. If the probability density function of X is given by f ( x) , then show that
0, otherwise
2
E[ X r ] .
(r 1)(r 2)
1
E[ X r ] x r f ( x)dx x r 2(1 x)dx
0

1 1
r r 1 xr 1 xr 2
2 (x x )dx 2
0
r 1 r 2 0

r 2 r 1 1 1 2
2 2.
r 1 r 2 (r 1)(r 2) (r 1)(r 2)
12. Give the probability law of Poisson distribution and also its mean and variance.
e x
In Poisson, P( x) , x 0,1,2,
x!
Mean=Variance=λ.
13. State Memory less property of exponential distribution.
If X is a exponential random variable, then X lacks memory i.e. P X s t \ X s P{X t}
14. If the probability that a target is destroyed on any one shot is 0.5, find the probability that it would be
destroyed on 6th attempt.
In geometric, P(x)=pqx-1=(0.5)(0.5)x-1=(0.5)x, = , , ,…
P (Target would be destroyed on 6th attempt)=P(6)=(0.5)6.
15. Every week the average number of wrong number phone calls received by a certain mail order house is
7. What is the probability that they will receive two wrong calls tomorrow?
Let X denotes the number of wrong number phone calls. Then X follows Poisson distribution.
Gi en A erage=7 i.e. λ=7 per eek λ= per da .
e 11x e 1
In Poisson P( x) , x 0,1,2,
x! x!
e1 e1
P (They will receive two wrong calls tomorrow) = P (2)= P(2) .
2! 2
PART – B

1. A random variable X has the following probability function

x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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SRI VIDYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VIRUDHUNAGAR COURSE MATERIAL (QUESTION BANK)

P(X) 0 k 2k 2k 3k k2 2 k2 7 k2+k
(A)Find the value of k
(B) Evaluate P(X<6),P(X≥6)
(C)If P(X≤C)>1/2, find the minimum value of C
2. A random variable has the following probability distribution
x -2 -1 0 1 2 3
p(x) 0.1 k 0.2 2k 0.3 3k
1. Find the value of k. 2. Evaluate P[X<2) and P(-2<X<2); 3. Find the pdf of X and 4. Evaluate the mean of X.
3. If the random variable X takes the values 1,2,3 and 4 such that 2P[X=1]=3P[X=2]=P[X=3]=5P[X=4], then find the
probability distribution and cumulative distribution function of X.
2x
Ce ,0 x
4. If the density function of X equals f ( x ) , find C. What is P[X>2]?
0, x 0
5. The distribution function of a random variable X is given by F(X)=1-(1+x)e-x, x≥0. Find the density function, mean
and variance of X.
1
X
4 2
6. A continuous random variables X has the pdf f(x) = kx , -1<x<0. Find the value of K and also P 1
x
4
7. Find the moment generating function and rth moment for the distribution whose pdf is f(x) = ke-x,0≤x≤∞. Hence find
the mean and variance.
x,0 x 1
8. Find the MGF of the random variable X having the pdf f ( x ) 2 x,1 x 2.
0, otherwise
9. Find the MGF , Mean and Variance of the following distribution: Binomial, Poisson, Geometric(Memory Less
property), Uniform, Exponential(Memory less property), Weibull & Gamma.
10. If X is a Poisson variate such that P(X=2)=9P(X=4)+90P(X=6), find mean and E[X2] and P(X≥2).
11. In a large consignment of electric bulbs, 10% are defective. A random sample of 20 is taken for inspection. Find the
probability that (1) All are good bulbs. (2) At most there are 3 defective bulbs. (3) Exactly there are 3 defective
bulbs.
12. A manufacturer of pins knows that 2% of his products are defective. If he sells pins in boxes of 100 and guarantees
that not more than 4 pins will be defective, what is the probability that a box fail to meet the guaranteed quality?
13. If the probability that an applicant for a driver’s license will pass the road test on any given trial is 0.8, what is the
probability that he will finally pass the test on the 4th trial, in fewer than 4 trials?
14. The number of monthly breakdown of a computer is a random variable having a Poisson distribution with mean equal
to 1.8. Find the probability that this computer will function for a month without a breakdown, with only one
breakdown.
15. If a continuous RV, X follows uniform distribution in the interval (0,2) and a continuous RV, Y follows exponential
Distribution with parameter λ. Find λ such that P(X<1)=P(Y<1).
16. In a certain city, the daily consumption of electric power in millions of Kilowatt hours can be treated as a random
variable having Gamma distribution with parameters λ=1/2 and α=3. If the power plant in this city has a daily
capacity of 12 million kilowatt hours, what is the probability that this supply of power will be inadequate on any
given day?
17. The time required to repair a machine is exponentially distributed with parameter λ=1/2. What is the probability that
the repair time exceeds 2h? What is the conditional probability that a repair takes at least 10 h given that its duration
exceeds 9h?
18. A coin is tossed until the first head occurs. Assuming that the tosses are independent and the probability of a head
occurring is p. Find the value of p so that the probability that an odd number of tosses required is equal to 0.6. Can
you find a value of p so that the probability is 0.5 that an odd number of tosses are required?

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