1-1

Probability Distribution

Exercise and Problems

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 Probability Distribution

A listing of all possible outcomes of

an experiment and the
corresponding probability.

Discrete probability Distribution

Can assume only certain outcomes
Continuous Probability Distribution
Can assume an infinite number of
values within a given range

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Exercise # 1
What is the probability of showing face up on three tosses of
a coin?

John Ragsdale sells new cars for Pelican Ford. John usually
sells the largest number of cars on Saturday. He has the
following probability distribution for the number of cars he
expects to sell on a particular Saturday.
Number of Probability,
Car Sold, X P(X)
0 .1
1 .2
2 .3
3 .3
4 .1
Total 1

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4-4

On a typical Saturday, how many cars does John expect

to sell?

What is the variance of the distribution?

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 Exercise # 2
IGLOO offers three sizes of ice cream box
small , medium, and large. These are sold for Tk.
80, Tk. 90 and Tk. 120 respectively. Thirty
percent of the orders are for small, 50 percent
are for medium and 20 percent are for large size.
Organize the sized of the ice cream and the
probability of sale into a probability distribution.
Compute the mean amount of charged for ice
cream.
What is the variance in the amount charged? The
standard deviation?

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4-5

Binomial Distribution

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 Characteristics

The binomial distribution has the

following characteristics:
An outcome of an experiment is
classified into one of two mutually
exclusive categories - success or failure.
The data collected are the results of
counts.
The probability of success stays the
same for each trial.
The trials are independent.
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4-6

Examples
There are five flights from Pittsburg via US Airways
into Bradford, Pennsylvania Regional Airport.
Suppose the probability that any flight arrivals late
is .20. What is the probability that none of the
flights are late today? What is the probability that
exactly one of the flights is late today?

Assuming that half of the population is vegetarian

so that choice of an being vegetarian is 0.50.
Assuming that 100 investigators can take a
sample of 10 individuals to see whether they are
vegetarians, how many investigators would you
expect to report that three people or less were
vegetarians?
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 A recent study by the American Highway
Patrolmans Association revealed that 60 percent
of the American drivers use their seat belts. A
sample of 10 drivers on the Florida Turnpike is
selected.
What is the probability that exactly 7 are
wearing seat bets?
What is the probability that 7 or fewer of the
drivers are wearing seat belts?

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4-7

Antibiotics occasionally cause nausea as a side

effect. A major drug company has developed a
new antibiotic called Phe-Mycin. The company
claims that, at most, 10 percent of all patients
treated with Phe-Mycin would experience nausea
as a side effect of taking drugs. We have selected
4 patients randomly and treat them with Phe-
Mycin.
What is the probability that none of the
patients will experience nausea?
What is the probability that more that two
patients will experience nausea?

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 Poisson Distribution

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 Poisson Distribution

Passion probability distribution

describes the number of times some
event occurs during a specified interval.
The interval may be time, distance,
area, or volume. The distribution is
based on two assumptions:
The probability is proportional to the
length of the interval
Intervals are independent

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 Characteristics of Possion Distribution

The random variable is the number of

times some event occurs during a
defined interval
The probability of the events is
proportional to the size of the interval
The interval which do not overlap and
are independent

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 Normal Distribution

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 Normal Distribution

is bell-shaped and has a single peak

at the center of the distribution.
Is symmetrical about the mean.
is asymptotic.
asymptotic That is the curve
gets closer and closer to the X-axis
but never actually touches it.
Has its mean, m,
m to determine its
location and its standard deviation,
s, to determine its dispersion.

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 r a l i t r b u i o n : = 0 , = 1

Characteristics of a Normal Distribution

0 . 4

Normal
Theoretically,
curve is0 . 3
curve extends to
symmetrical
infinity
0 . 2
f ( x

0 . 1

. 0

- 5

a
Mean, median, and
x

mode are equal

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 Areas under Normal Curve
Between z= 0 and z =1.2
Between z= -.68 and z = 0
Between z= -.46 and z=2.21
Between z= 0.81 and z=1.94
To the left of z= - 0.6
To the right of z= -1.28
To the right of z=2.05 and to the left z=
-1.44

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 Exercise # 1

The mean weakly income of a shift foreman in the

glass industry is normally distributed with a mean of
Tk. 1,000 and a standard deviation of Tk. 100. What is
the likelihood of selecting a foreman whose weekly
income is between Tk. 1,000 and Tk. 1100.

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 Exercise # 2

The distribution of weekly income follows a

normal distribution, with a mean of Tk.
1,000 and a standard deviation of Tk. 100.
What is the probability of selecting a shift
foreman in the glass industry whose
income is:
Between Tk. 790 and Tk. 1000
Less than Tk. 790.

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 Exercises

Ex #1: How many workers have a salary between 400

and 650, if the airthmetic mean is 500 and standard
deviation is 100, and number of worker is 15000 if
the salary of the worker is assumed to follow the
normal law.
Ex # 2: The average daily sales of 500 branch
offices was Tk. 150 thousand and the standard
deviation Tk. 15 thousand. Assuming the distribution
to be normal, indicate how many branches have
sales between :
Tk. 120 thousand and Tk. 145 thousand
Tk. 140 thousand and Tk. 165 thousand
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 Exercise

Ex # 3: The income of a group of 10,000 persons was

found to be normally distributed with mean Tk. 1750 pm
and standard deviation Tk. 50. Show that this of this
group 95% had income exceeding Tk. 1668 and only
5% had income exceeding Tk. 1832. What was the
lowest income among the richest 100.

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 Exercises

Ex # 4: A workshop produces 2000 units per day.

The average weight of unit is 130 kg with standard
deviation of 10 kg. Assuming normal distribution,
how many units are expected to weight less than
142 kg.

Ex # 5: As a result of tests on 20,000 electric fans

manufactured by a company, it was found that
lifetime of the fans was normally distributed with an
average life of 2040 hours and standard deviation of
60 hours. On the basis of the information estimate
the number of fans that is expected to run for a)
more that 2,150 hours and b) less than 1,960 hours.
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