BES Tutorial Sample Solutions, S2 2010

It will be posted on BES website with one week delay

WEEK 7 TUTORIAL EXERCISES (To be discussed in the week starting
August 30)

1. From several years records, a fish market manager has determined that the
weight of deep sea bream sold in the market (X) is approximately normally
distributed with a mean of 420 grams and a standard deviation of 80 grams.
Assuming this distribution will remain unchanged in the future, calculate
the expected proportions of deep sea bream sold over the next year
weighing
(a)

between 300 and 400 grams.

300
300
400

80
1.5

0
0.4332
0.3345
(b)

between 300 and 500 grams.

300
300
500

400

420

0
0.4332
0.7745
(c)

more than 600 grams.

600

0.25

500

420
1.5
0.3413

600

420
80

1
0

420
80

2.25
0.5
0
0.5 0.4878
0.0122

80

0.25
1.5
0
0.0987

80
1.5

420

2.25

2. In a certain large city, household annual incomes are considered

approximately normally distributed with a mean of $40,000 and a standard
deviation of $6,000. What proportion of households in the city have an
annual income over $30,000? If a random sample of 60 households were
selected, how many of these households would we expect to have annual
incomes between $35,000 and $45,000?
~
30000

40000, 6000 )

30000 40000
6000
1.67
0.5
0
1.67
0.5 0.4525
0.9525

So 95.25% of households in the city have annual incomes greater than

$30,000.

35000 40000
45000 40000
35000
45000
6000
6000
0.83
0.83
2 0
0.83
2 0.2967
0.5934

Thereforeweexpect0.5934(60)36householdsinthesampletohaveannual
incomesbetween$35,000and$45,000.

3. In a certain city it is estimated that 40% of households have access to the

internet. A company wishing to sell services to internet users randomly
chooses 150 households in the city and sends them advertising material.
For the households contacted:
(a) Calculate the probability that less than 60 households have internet
access?
LetXbethenumberofhouseholdscontactedthathaveinternetaccess.Then
assume X is a binomial random variable with n=150 and p=0.4. Because n is
largewecanusethenormalapproximationtothebinomialwhere:

150 0.4 60
1
150 0.4 0.6 36

Thusincorporatingthecontinuitycorrectionweneedtofind:

60
59
59.5
59.5 60

6
0.083
0.5
0
0.083
0.5 0.0319 0.4681
(b)

Calculate the probability that between 50 and 100 (inclusive)

households have internet access?
50

(c)

100

49.5
100.5
49.5 60
100.5 60

6
6
1.75
6.75
0
1.75
0
6.75
0.4599 0.5 0.9599

Calculate the probability that more than 50 households have internet

access?
51

0.5

50.5
50.5 60

6
1.583
0.4429 0.9429

(d) There is a probability of 0.9 that the number of households with internet
access equals or exceeds what value?
0.9

0.5

0.5 60
0.9
6
60.5
0.4
6
60.5
1.28
52.82
6

0.9

Thereisa90%chancethatthenumberofhouseholdswithinternetaccessis
52ormore.

4. The manufacturer of a particular handmade article takes place in two

stages. The time taken for the first stage is approximately normally
distributed with a mean of 30 minutes and a standard deviation of 4
minutes. The time taken for the second stage is also approximately
normally distributed, but with a mean of 10 minutes and a standard
deviation of 3 minutes. The times to complete the two stages of production
are independently distributed. Note that the sum of two normally
distributed random variables is also normally distributed.
LetX1bethetimetakenforthefirststageandX2thetimetakenforthesecond
stage.ThenY=X1+X2isthetimetakentocompleteanarticle.

(a) What are the mean and standard deviation of the total time to
manufacture the article?
30

3
4
40,25

10

40

25

NotethatindependenceisusedinthecalculationoftheVar(Y)

(b)

What is the probability of finishing an article in less than 35 minutes?

35

35

40
5

1
0.5
0
0.5 0.3413
0.1587

(c) What proportion of articles will be completed in 35-45 minutes?

35

45

35
1

45

40
5

2
0
0.6826

40
5

1
1

5. What is the 25th percentile of the normal distribution N(10, 9)?

Letxbetherequiredpercentile.Firstfindz,the25thpercentileofastandard
normal.

0.25
0.25

0
0.5 .25 0.25
0.67
0.67

~ 10,9
25
:
10
0.67
3
7.99