SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Kattankulathur Campus

College of Engineering and Technology

21MAB203T Probability and Stochastic Processes
Module – I: Random Variables
Multiple Choice Questions

1) If in a table all possible values of a random variable are given their

corresponding probabilities, then this table is called as:
(a) Probability density function (b) Distribution function
(c) Probability distribution (d) Continuous distribution

2) A variable that can assume any possible value between two points is called:
(a) Discrete random variable (b) Continuous random variable
(c) Discrete sample space (d) Random variable

3) A formula or equation used to represent the probability' distribution of a continuous

random variable is called:
(a) Probability distribution (b) Distribution function
(c) Probability density function (d) Mathematical expectation

4) Given E(X) = 5 and E(Y) = -2, then E(X - Y) is:

(a) 3 (b) 5 (c) 7 (d) -2

5) If C is a constant (non-random variable), then E(C) is:

(a) 0 (b) 1 (c) cf(c) (d) c

6) A listing of all the outcomes of an experiment and the probability associated with each
outcome is called:
(a) Probability distribution (b) Probability density function
(c) Attributes (d) Distribution function

7) A quantity resulting from an experiment that, by chance, can assume different values is
called:
(a) Random experiment (b) Random sample
(c) Random variable (d) Random process

8) A variable which can assume finite or countably infinite number of values is known as:
(a) Continuous (b) Discrete (c) Qualitative (d) None of them

9) In a discrete probability distribution the sum of all the probabilities is always equal to:
(a) Zero (b) One (c) Minimum (d) Maximum

10) A discrete probability function f(x) is always non-negative and always lies between:
(a) 0 and ∞ (b) 0 and 1 (c) -1 and +1 (d) -∞ and +∞

11) The height of persons in a country is a random variable of the type:

(a) Discrete random variable (b) Continuous random variable
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) Neither (a) and (b)
12) What would be the probability of an event ‘G’ if H denotes its complement, according to
the axioms of probability?
a) P (G) = 1 / P (H) b) P (G) = 1 – P (H) c) P (G) = 1 + P (H) d) P (G) = P (H)

13) A table with all possible value of a random variable and its corresponding probabilities is
called
a) Probability Mass Function b) Probability Density Function
c) Cumulative distribution function d) Probability Distribution

14) If a variable can certain integer values between two given points is called
a) Continuous random variable b) Discrete random variable
c) Irregular random variable d) Uncertain random variable

15) Which of the following statement is not true for an exponential distribution with
parameter λ?
a) the distribution is completely determined once the value of λ is known
b) the area under the curve is equal to one
c) the distribution is a two-parameter distribution since the mean and standard
deviation are equal
d) standard deviation = 1 / λ

16) Indicate which of the statements below does not correctly apply to normal probability
distributions:
a) they all have the same mean and standard deviation
b) for the standard normal distribution µ = 0 and σ = 1
c) they are all unimodal (ie: have a single mode)
d) they are all symmetrical

17) Which probability distribution is appropriate for a count of events when the events of
interest occur randomly, independently of one another and rarely?
a) Poisson distribution b) normal distribution
b) uniform distribution d) exponential distribution

18) In a popular shopping centre, the waiting time for an ABSA ATM machine is found to be
uniformly distributed between 1 and 5 minutes. What is the probability of waiting
between 2 and 3 minutes to use the ATM?
a) 0.40 b) 0.25 c) 0.50 d) None

19) The expected value of a discrete random variable ‘x’ is given by

a) ∑ x P(x) b) P(x) c) ∑ P(x) d) 1

20) Which of the following distributions is suitable to model the length of time that elapses
before the first employee passes through the security door of a company?
a) uniform b) poisson c) normal d) exponential
21) Which of the following statements is correct?
a) The mean of the Poisson distribution (with parameter μ) equals the mean of the
Exponential distribution (with parameter λ) only when μ = λ = 1
b) The Uniform distribution is a discrete probability distribution
c) The Exponential distribution is continuous and defined over the interval (-∞, ∞)
d) The Binomial distribution has equal mean and variance only when p = 0.5

22) Which of the following mentioned standard Probability density functions is applicable to
discrete Random Variables ?
a) Poisson Distribution b) Exponential Distribution
c) Normal Distribution d) Uniform Distribution

23) A table with all possible value of a random variable and its corresponding probabilities is
called
a) Probability Distribution b) Cumulative distribution function
c) Probability Mass Function d) Probability Density Function

24) Which of the following is not a characteristic of the normal distribution?

a) the mean is always zero b) the area under the curve equals one
c) the mean, median and mode are equal d) it is a symmetrical distribution

25) A multiple-choice test has 30 questions. There are 4 choices for each question. A student
who has not studied for the test decides to answer all the questions randomly by guessing
the answer to each question. Which of the following probability distributions can be used
to calculate the student’s chance of getting at least 20 questions right?
a)Uniform distribution b) Exponential distribution
c) Poisson distribution d) Binomial distribution

26) Which of the following cannot generate a Poisson distribution?

a) The number of customers arriving at a petrol station
b) The number of cars arriving at a parking garage in a one-hour time interval
c) The number of misprints per page
d) The number of telephone calls received in a ten-minute interval

27) Which of the following is not a correct statement?

a) the mean of the exponential distribution is the inverse of the mean of the Poisson
b) the exponential distribution describes the Poisson process as a continuous random
variable
c) the area under the curve for an exponential distribution equals 1
d) none of the above.

28) What is the expected value (mean) of a discrete random variable 𝑋 with probability mass
function 𝑃(𝑋 = 1) = 0.2, 𝑃(𝑋 = 2) = 0.5, and 𝑃(𝑋 = 3) = 0.3?
(a) 1.7
 (b) 2.0
(c) 2.5
(d) 3.0
𝑦
1
29) If 𝑌 is a continuous random variable with probability density function 𝑓(𝑦) = 4 𝑒 −4 for
𝑦 ≥ 0, what is the expected value of 𝑌?
(a) 4
(b) 8
(c) 12
(d) 16

30) For a uniform distribution on the interval [2,8], what is the probability that a randomly
chosen value is greater than 5?
(a) 0.2
(b) 0.5
(c) 0.6
(d) 0.8

31) If 𝑍 is a standard normal random variable, what is the probability that 𝑍 is less than -1?
(a) 0.1587
(b) 0.25
(c) 0.3413
(d) 0.5

32) If a random variable 𝑊 has an exponential distribution with parameter 𝜆 = 0.2, what is
the variance of 𝑊?
(a) 2
(b) 5
(c) 10
(d) 25
33) If a coin is flipped five times, what is the probability of getting exactly three heads?
(a) 0.3125
(b) 0.375
(c) 0.5
 (d) 0.625

34) If the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable 𝑋 is 𝐹(𝑥) = 1 −

𝑒 −0.2𝑥 , what is the probability density function (PDF) of 𝑋?

(a) 𝟎. 𝟐𝒆−𝟎.𝟐𝒙

(b) 0.2𝑒 0.2𝑥

(c) 𝑒 −0.2𝑥

(d) −0.2𝑒 −0.2𝑥

35) If the standard deviation of a random variable 𝑍 is 4, what is the variance of 𝑍?

(a) 4
(b) 8
(c) 16
(d) 32

36) What is the expected value of a continuous random variable 𝑉 with probability density
function 𝑓(𝑣) = 3𝑣 2 for 0 ≤ 𝑣 ≤ 1?
(a) 0.25
(b) 0.5
(c) 0.75
(d) 1.0

37) If 𝑋 is a discrete random variable with probability mass function 𝑃(𝑋 = 1) = 0.4,
𝑃(𝑋 = 2) = 0.3, and 𝑃(𝑋 = 3) = 0.3, what is the variance of 𝑋?
(a) 0.6
(b) 0.9
(c) 1.0
(d) 1.2

38) If 𝑌 is a continuous random variable with probability density function 𝑓(𝑦) = 2𝑦 for 0 ≤
𝑦 ≤ 1, what is the probability that 𝑌 is less than 0.5?
(a) 0.125
(b) 0.25
(c) 0.375
(d) 0.5
39) For a binomial distribution with 𝑛 = 10 trials and success probability 𝑝 = 0.4, what is
the variance?
(a) 2.4
(b) 2.8
(c) 3.2
(d) 3.6

40) If 𝑍 is a standard normal random variable, what is the probability that 𝑍 is greater than
1.5?
(a) 0.0668
(b) 0.1587
(c) 0.3085
(d) 0.5

41) If a random variable 𝑊 follows a Poisson distribution with parameter 𝜆 = 2, what is the
probability 𝑃(𝑊 = 3)?
(a) 0.1804
(b) 0.1807
(c) 0.1839
(d) 0.1841

42) If the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable 𝑋 is 𝐹(𝑥) = 1 −

𝑒 −0.1𝑥 , what is the probability density function (PDF) of 𝑋?

(a) 𝟎. 𝟏𝒆−𝟎.𝟏𝒙

(b) 0.1𝑒 0.1𝑥

(c) 𝑒 −0.1𝑥

(d) −0.1𝑒 −0.1𝑥

43) If the standard deviation of a random variable 𝑍 is 6, what is the variance of 𝑍?

(a) 12
(b) 18
(c) 24
(d) 36

44) If 𝑍 is a standard normal random variable, what is the probability that 𝑍 is less than -1?
(a) 0.1587
 (b) 0.25
(c) 0.3413
(d) 0.5

45) What is the expected value of a continuous random variable 𝑉 with probability density
function 𝑓(𝑣) = 4𝑣 3 for 0 ≤ 𝑣 ≤ 1?
(a) 0.125
(b) 0.25
(c) 0.375
(d) 0.5