FACULTY OF SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

MODULE: Engineering Statistics (STE3A01/STAE0A3)

CAMPUS: APK
ASSESSMENT: Test 1, Semester 1, 2021
DATE: 23 March 2021
DURATION: 90 minutes
MARKS: 50
ASSESSOR: Mr T Hansragh
MODERATOR: Mrs A Hildebrand

STUDENT INFORMATION

FIRST NAME: _________________________________________________________

SURNAME: _________________________________________________________

STUDENT NUMBER: _________________________________________________________

CONTACT NUMBER: _________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS:
• Answer all Questions.
• This test consists of 9 pages including this one.
• You will need to scan and submit a PDF of your answers on Blackboard.
• Round off all answers to three decimal places, unless otherwise stated.
• Show all your workings: you must prove you understand the work.
• All answers must be supported by workings. No marks will be awarded for
guessing/unsupported answers.
• You may use a pocket calculator.
• This is a closed book test.
• No outside help is permitted. Your work must be your own. Plagiarism will be checked.
• Good Luck!!!
Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

QUESTION 1 [10]

1.1) Which one of the following statements is true for the following data values: 17,
15, 16, 14, 17, 18, and 22? (1)

A) The mean, median and mode are all equal

B) Only the mean and median are equal
C) Only the mean and mode are equal
D) Only the median and mode are equal

1.2) Which one of the following statements is correct? (1)

A) The experiment of tossing a single coin once contains 1 simple event

B) The experiment of rolling a single die once contains 6 simple events
C) The experiment of selecting a single number from 0 to 10 from a hat
contains 1 simple event.
D) The experiment of drawing a single card once from a standard deck
contains 4 events

1.3) The possible number of combinations of 3 out of 8 distinct items equal: (1)

A) 28
B) 56
C) 112
D) 224

1.4) Let 𝑥𝑖 be 1 if a success occurs and 0 otherwise. Let 𝑥 = ∑ 𝑥𝑖 , i.e., 𝑥 is the

count of the number of successes in n trials. If a random sample is taken from
a population which contains only zeros and ones, the sample mean is an
estimate of the actual proportion of ones in the population. (1)

A) True
B) False

1.5) For a binomial experiment with n trials, p is the probability of success, q is the
probability of failure, and x is the number of successes in n trials. Which one
of the following statements is correct? (1)

A) p+q=1
B) p(x) = 1 for x = 0, 1, . . ., n
C) P(x = 0) = qn
D) All of the above

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

1.6) Let x be a continuous random variable and let c be a constant. Which of the
following statements is false? (1)

A) The probability that x assumes a value in the interval x1 to x2 is the area

under the probability density function between x1 and x2
B) P(x = c) = 0
C) P(x < c) = P(x < c) and P(x > c) = P(x > c)
D) None of the above

1.7) If the random variable x is normally distributed with a mean equal to 0.45 and
a standard deviation equal to 0.40, then P(x ≥ 0.75) is:
(1)

A) 0.7500
B) 0.7734
C) 0.2266
D) 0.2734

1.8) A sample of students who has taken a calculus test has a mean score of 78.2,
a mode of 67, and a median score of 67. Based on this information, the
distribution of test scores is (1)

A) symmetric
B) right skewed
C) left skewed
D) bimodal

1.9) A and B are events such that 𝑃(𝐴) = 0.3, 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 0.2 and 𝑃(𝐵) = 0.8.
Which one of the following statements is true? (1)

P ( A  B ) = 0.8
A)
P ( A  B ) = 0.8
B)
P ( A  B ) = 0.4
C)
P ( A  B ) = 0.1
D)
E) P( A  B) = 0.75

1.10) If P(A) = 0.7, P(B) = 0.6 and P(A∪B) = 0.8, then P(A∩B) equals: (1)

A) 0.5
B) 0.6
C) 0.7
D) 0.8

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

QUESTION 2 [9]
The Reviews editor for a certain scientific journal decides whether the review for any
book should be short (1–2 pages), medium (3–4 pages), or long (5–6 pages). Data
on recent reviews indicates that 50% of them are short, 20% are medium, and the
other 30% are long. Reviews are submitted in either Word or LaTeX. For short
reviews, 60% are in Word, whereas 70% of medium reviews are in Word and 20% of
long reviews are in Word. Suppose a recent review is randomly selected.

a) Draw an appropriate tree diagram. (3)

Word

Short
LaTex

0.7 Word
0.2
Medium
0.3
LaTex

0.2 Word
Long

0.8 LaTex

b) What is the probability that the selected review was submitted in Word
format? (2)
3

𝑃(𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) = ∑ 𝑃(𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑖 ∩ 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑)

𝑖=1
= (0.5)(0.6) + (0.2)(0.7) + (0.3)(0.2) = 0.5

c) If the selected review was submitted in Word format, what are the posterior
probabilities of it being short, medium, or long? (4)

𝑃(𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 ∩ 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) (0.5)(0.6)

𝑃(𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 | 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) = = = 0.6
𝑃(𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) (0.5)

𝑃(𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 ∩ 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) (0.2)(0.7)

𝑃(𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 | 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) = = = 0.28
𝑃(𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) (0.5)

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

𝑃(𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔 ∩ 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) (0.2)(0.3)

𝑃(𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔 | 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) = = = 0.12
𝑃(𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑) (0.5)

QUESTION 3 [6]

Sixty percent of all vehicles examined at a certain emissions inspection station pass
the inspection. Assuming that successive vehicles pass or fail independently of one
another, calculate the following probabilities:

a) P(all of the next three vehicles inspected pass) (1)

(.60)(.60)(.60) = 0.216

b) P(at least one of the next three inspected fails) (2)

1 – P(all pass) = 1 − 0.216 = 0.784

c) P(exactly one of the next three inspected passes) (2)

P(exactly one passes)

= (0.60)(0.40)(0.40) + (0.40)(0.60)(0.40) + (0.40)(0.40)(0.60)
= 0.288

d) P(at most one of the next three vehicles inspected passes) (2)

P(at most 1 pass) = P(0 pass) + P(exactly one passes) = (0.4)3 + 0.288
= 0.352

e) Given that at least one of the next three vehicles passes inspection, what is
the probability that all three pass? (3)

𝑃(3 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠 ∩ 1 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠) 𝑃(3 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠)

𝑃(3 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠|1 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠) = =
𝑃(1 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠) 𝑃(1 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠)
0.216 0.216
= = = 0.231
1 − ((0.4)(0.4)(0.4)) 0.936

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

QUESTION 4 [6]

Two fair six-sided dice are tossed independently. Let M = the maximum of the two
tosses (so, M(1,5) = 5 where 1 is the 1st toss and 5 is the 2nd).

a) What is the pmf of M? [Hint: First determine p(1), then p(2), and so on.] (4)

1
p(1) = P(M = 1) = P({(1,1)}) = = 0.2778
36
3
p(2) = P(M = 2) = P({(1,2)(2,1)(2,2)}) = = 0.0833
36
5
p(3) = P(M = 3) = P({(1,3)(2,3)(3,1)(3,2)(3,3)}) = = 0.13889
36
7 9 11
𝑝(4) = = 0.1944, 𝑝(5) = = 0.25, 𝑝(6) = = 0.30556
36 36 36

b) Using the values in a), determine the cdf of M. (2)

0, 𝑚<1
1
, 1≤𝑚<2
36
4
, 2≤𝑚<3
36
9
F(m) = , 3≤𝑚<4
36
16
, 4≤𝑚<5
36
25
, 5≤𝑚<6
36
{ 1, 𝑚≥6

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

QUESTION 5 [7]

The taste test for PTC (phenylthiourea) is a common class demonstration in the
study of genetics. It is known 80% of the American people are "tasters" and 20% are
"non-tasters." Suppose a genetics class of size 15 does the test to see if they match
the U.S. percentage of "tasters" and "non-tasters." (Assume the assignment of
students to classes constitutes a random process.)

a) Give the probability distribution of the random variable x, the number of "non-
tasters" in the class. (2)

15!
𝑝(𝑥) = (0.2)𝑥 (0.8)15−𝑥 , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛 = 0,1,2,3, . . . ,15
𝑥! (15 − 𝑥)!

b) Find P(4 < x < 8) (3)

𝑝(5) + 𝑝(6) + 𝑝(7)

15! 15!
= (0.2)5 (0.8)15−5 + (0.2)6 (0.8)15−6
5! (15 − 5)! 6! (15 − 6)!
15!
+ (0.2)7 (0.8)15−7 = 0.16
7! (15 − 7)!

c) Find the mean of x. (1)

µ = 𝑛𝑝 = (0.2)(15) = 3

d) Find the variance of x. (1)

𝜎 2 = 𝑛𝑝𝑞 = (0.2)(0.8)(15) = 2.4

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

QUESTION 6 [5]

The pmf of the amount of memory 𝑋(𝐺𝐵) in a purchased flash drive is given as:

𝐱 1 2 4 8 16
𝒑(𝒙) 0.1 0.15 0.25 0.2 0.3

Compute the following:

a) 𝐸(𝑋) (2)

𝐸(𝑋) = ∑ 𝑥𝑝(𝑥) = 1(0.1) + 2(0.15) + 4(0.25) + 8(0.2) + 16(0.3) = 7.8 𝐺𝐵

𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑥

b) 𝑉(𝑋) (2)

𝑉(𝑋) = ∑ (𝑥 − µ)2 𝑝(𝑥) = (1 − 7.8)2 (0.1)

𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑥
+ (2 − 7.8)2 (0.15) +(4 − 7.8)2 (0.25) + (8 − 7.8)2 (0.2)
+ (16 − 7.8)2 (0.3) = 33.46 𝐺𝐵

Or

𝐸(𝑋 2 ) = ∑ 𝑥 2 𝑝(𝑥) = 12 (0.1) + 22 (0.15) + 42 (0.25) + 82 (0.2) + 162 (0.3) = 94.3𝐺𝐵

𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑥

𝑉(𝑋) = 𝐸(𝑋 2 ) − (𝐸(𝑋))2 = 94.3 − (7.8)2 = 33.46 𝐺𝐵

c) The standard deviation (1)

𝜎 = √𝑉(𝑋) = √33.46 = 5.784 𝐺𝐵

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Semester Test 1 23 March 2021 STE3A01/STAE0A3

QUESTION 7 [6]

The mayor of the city of Detroit was informed that household water usage to be a
normally distributed random variable with a mean of 25 gallons and a standard
deviation of 4 gallons per day.

a) Find the probability that a random chosen household uses more than 23
gallons per day. (2)

𝑃(𝑋 > 23) = 𝑃(𝑧 > −0.5) = 0.6915

𝑃(𝑋 > 23) = 1 − 𝑃(𝑋 < 23) = 1 − 𝑃(𝑧 < −0.5) = 1 − 0.3085 = 0.6915

b) Find the probability that a randomly chosen household uses between 20 and
25 gallons per day. (3)

𝑃(20 ≤ 𝑋 ≤ 25) = 𝑃(−1.25 ≤ 𝑧 ≤ 0) = 0.5 − 0.1056 = 0.3944

c) Find the probability that a randomly chosen household uses fewer than 21
gallons per day. (1)

𝑃(𝑋 < 21) = 𝑃(𝑧 < −1) = 0.1587

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