Tutorial Sheet

Random Variable
1. A survey conducted by a song rating service finds that the percentages of listeners
familiar with Poker Face by Lady Gaga who would give the song ratings of 5, 4, 3, 2,
and 1 are, respectively, 43 percent, 21 percent, 22 percent, 7 percent, and 7 percent.
Assign the numerical values 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to the (qualitative) ratings 1, 2, 3, 4, and
5 and find an estimate of the probability distribution of x (this song’s rating by a
randomly selected listener who is familiar with the song).

2.

a. Graph p(x); that is, graph the probability distribution of x.

b. Find the expected monetary outcome.
c. Calculate the standard deviation of x.

3. 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 the
drug. Suppose that we randomly select patients and treat them with Phe-Mycin. Each patient
will either experience nausea (which we arbitrarily call a success) or will not experience
nausea (a failure). We will assume that p, the true probability that a patient will experience
nausea as a side effect, is .10, the maximum value of p claimed by the drug company.
Furthermore, it is reasonable to assume that patients’ reactions to the drug would be
independent of each other.
a. Set up the probability distribution function
b. Based on the PDF, answer the following question
i. What is the probability that no one will experience nausea?
ii. What is the probability that at least 1 will experience nausea?
iii. What is the probability that at max 2 will have nausea?

4. A commercial jet aircraft has four engines. For an aircraft in flight to land safely, at least
two engines should be in working condition. Each engine has an independent reliability of p
=92%.
a. What is the probability that an aircraft in flight can land safely?
b. If the probability of landing safely must be at least 99.5%, what is the minimum
value for p?
5. An industry representative claims that 50 percent of all satellite dish owners subscribe to at
least one premium movie channel. In an attempt to justify this claim, the representative will
poll a randomly selected sample of dish owners.
Suppose that the representative’s claim is true, and suppose that a sample of four dish owners
is randomly selected. Assuming independence, use an appropriate formula to compute:
(1) The probability that none of the dish owners in the sample subscribes to at least one
premium movie channel.
(2) The probability that more than two dish owners in the sample subscribe to at least one
premium movie channel.