UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA

FACULTY: SCIENCE AND SPORT

SCHOOL : MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

Final Examination: Semester 2, Academic Year 2015/16

Module Name: Engineering Statistics

Module Code: STA2023

Date: April/May, 2016

Theory/ Practical: Theory

Groups: B Eng 2IND/BEng 2M/ BEng2M (CA) / B Eng 2M (NA)

BEng2E (FT) / B Eng 2, C4-PD/ B Eng2 E (ART),
BScASC1

Duration: 2 Hours

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Answer any FOUR (4) questions.

2. All working must be clearly shown.

3. This question paper contains 6 pages.

4. Please answer each question on a new page.

5. Marks allotted for parts of questions are shown in brackets.

6. Formula tables will be provided.

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DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO
QUESTION NO. 1

(a) A circuit has three independent switches A, B, and C wired as

shown in Figure 1. Current can only flow through the bank of
switches if they are closed. The probability that any given switch is
closed is p.
B
A

a b

C
Fig. 1
Calculate the probability that current can flow through the bank of
switches from a to b.
[5 marks]

(b) A smoke detector system uses two devices, A and B. If smoke is

present, the probability that it will be detected by device A is 0.95,
the probability that it will be detected by device B is 0.98, and the
probability that it will be detected by both devices is 0.94. If smoke
is present, find the probability that the smoke will be detected by
(i) device A but not device B .

(ii) device A given that it is detected by device B .

[2 + 3 marks]

(c) Conveyor belting for use in mines is tested for both strength and
safety. A testing station receives belting from three different
suppliers: 30% of its tests are carried out on samples of belting
from supplier A, 50% from B; 20% from C. From past experience
the probability of failing the strength test is 0.02 for a sample from
supplier A, 0.12 from B and 0.04 from C.

(i) What is the probability that a particular strength test will

result in a failure?

(ii) If a strength test results in a failure, what is the probability

that the belt came from supplier B?
[2+3 marks]

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QUESTION NO. 2

(a) A production manager knows that 5% of components produced by

a particular manufacturing process have some defect. Six of these
components, whose characteristics can be assumed to be
independent of each other, were examined. What is the probability
that at least two of these components have a defect?
[3 marks]

(b) The mean number of flaws per 100 metres of fabric produced on a
certain machine at Blanktown Fabrics is 3. If the flaws occur
randomly, find the probability that 200 metres of the fabric will
have fewer than three flaws.
[3 marks]

(c) The probability mass function of the Binomial random variable X

is given by P ( X  x)  C xn p x (1  p ) n  x where x = 0, 1, 2, 3,…,
n
Find expected value and variance of X.
[4 + 5 marks]

QUESTION NO. 3

(a) Management wants an estimate of the proportion of the

corporation’s employees who favour a modified bonus plan. From
a random sample of 200 employees it was found that 80 were in
favour of this particular plan. Find a 90% confidence interval
estimate of the true population proportion that favours this
modified bonus plan.
[3 marks]

(b) A corporation is trying to decide which of three makes of

automobile to order for its fleet – domestic, Japanese, or European.
Four cars of each type were ordered, and after 10,000 miles of
driving, the operating cost per mile of each was assessed. The
accompanying results in cents per mile were obtained.
Table 1

DOMESTIC JAPANESE EUROPEAN

77 67 63

71 62 59

74 63 59

67 57 54

Test the null hypothesis that the population mean operating costs
per mile are the same for these three types of cars at the 0.05 level
of significance.

[12 marks]

a ni
a
Ti 2 G 2 G2
SS Tr    , T  ij
 
2
SS X , SS E  SS T  SS Tr
i 1 ni N i 1 j 1 N

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QUESTION NO. 4

(a) Let Y1,Y2, ......Yn be a random sample with E (Yi ) = m and Var (Yi ) =  2 .
1 n
Show that V 2
 
n i 1
(Yi  Y ) 2 is a biased estimator for  2 .

[3 marks]

(b) A random sample of 75 steel wires produced by factory A showed

a mean breaking strength of 1,230 kilograms with a standard
deviation of 120 kilograms. A random sample of 100 steel wires
produced by factory B showed a mean breaking strength of 1,190
kilograms with a standard deviation of 90 kilograms. Is there a
significant difference in the mean breaking strengths of the steel
wires produced by the two factories at the 0.05 level of
significance?
[7 marks]

(c) The mean lifetime of electric light bulbs produced by a company

has in the past been 1,120 hours. A random sample of eighteen
electric light bulbs recently chosen from a supply of newly
produced bulbs showed a mean lifetime of 1,270 hours and a
standard deviation of 125 hours. At the 0.01 level of significance,
test whether the mean lifetime of the bulb has increased.

[5 marks]

QUESTION NO. 5

(a) The lifetimes of televisions produced by the Hishobi Company are

normally distributed with a mean of 75 months and a standard
deviation of 8 months. What lifetime (in months) is exceeded by 5%
of the televisions?
[4 marks]

(b) The mileage C in thousands which car owners get with a certain
kind of tyre is a random variable, X, having probability density
function

 1 30x
 x0
f ( x)   30 e
 0 x0

(i) Find the moment generating function of X.

(ii) Given that the random variable Sn = X1 + X2 + …+ Xn

where X1, X2, …, Xn are independent and identically
distributed as X. State the distribution of Sn.
[5 +2 marks]

(c) Consider a random variable X with density function given by

 x2
f ( x)  e 2
for 0  x  

Find E(X).
[4 marks]

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QUESTION NO. 6

Cellulon, a manufacturer of a new type of home insulation,

wants to develop guidelines for builders and consumers regarding
the effects on natural gas consumption (1) of the thickness of the
insulation in the attic of a home and (2) of the outdoor temperature.
In the laboratory they varied the insulation thickness and
temperature. A few of the findings are:

Table 2
Monthly Natural Gas Thickness of Insulation Outdoor Temperature
Consumption (cubic feet), (inches), (0F),
Y X1 X2
30.3 6 40
26.9 12 40
22.1 8 49

(i) The multiple-regression equation is

Y  = 62.65 – 1.86X1 – 0.52 X2 .
Show that b2 is -0.52 for the first three data readings as
shown in the table 2 above.

(iii) .
(iv) Interpret the least squares estimate of the regression
parameters b1= -1.86.

(iii) Predict Y  for X1 = 6 inches and X2 = 40 0F.

(iv) Suppose that over an extended past period of time the

slope of the relationship between Y  and X1 was -1.98.
The standard error of the coefficient for b1, s b1 , is 0.102.
Test at the 0.01 level of significance if there has been a
change in the value of b1 with a sample size of 25.
[8+1 +1+ 5 marks]

Normal Equations

 Y  na  b  X 1 1  b2  X 2

 X Y  a X
1 1  b1  X 12  b2  X 1 X 2

X 2 Y  a  X 2  b1  X 1 X 2  b2  X 22

Test Statistic

bj  Bj
tbj  where j = 1, 2,…, k
sb j

END OF PAPER

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