Assignment 1 : SAP (Due date 17 March 2025)

1. Classify the following as discrete or continuous random variables:

(a) Number of heads in 10 coin tosses.

(b) Time taken to finish a race.
(c) Number of students in a classroom.

2. Construct the probability mass function (PMF) for a discrete random variable rep- resenting the roll of a fair six-sided
die. Derive the expected value of the PMF you constructed.

3. A random variable X has the following PMF:

x
P (X = x) = , x = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
15
= 0 Otherwise

Calculate P (X ≤ 3) and the expected value of X.

4. The position of a particle in a one-dimensional box is represented by a random variable. Explain how its probability
distribution relates to the wavefunction.

5. In radioactive decay, the time until the next decay is modeled as a random variable. Derive its probability distribution.

6. A biased coin has a probability of 0.6 of showing heads. Toss the coin 5 times. Construct the Binomial distribution
for this experiment. Compute the probability of getting exactly 3 heads in the experiment.

7. Prove that the sum of probabilities for a Binomial random variable equals 1.

8. A call center receives an average of 4 calls per minute. What is the probability that exactly 6 calls are received in a
given minute?

9. A radioactive source emits particles following a Poisson distribution. If the mean number of emissions is 5 per second.
What is the probability of detecting exactly 3 emissions in one second? Obtain the probability of obtaining no emission
events over a 2-second interval.

10. The distribution of the number of photons detected by a photomultiplier tube in a time window is binomial. If the
detection probability is 0.7 and 10 trials are conducted, find the probability of detecting exactly 6 photons.

11. A sample contains 100 radioactive atoms with a decay probability of 0.01 per second. Find the probability of observing
exactly 2 decays in one second.

12. A cosmic ray detector registers hits as a Bernoulli random variable for each trial. Derive the expected number of hits
in 100 trials if the detection probability per trial is 0.02

13. The lifetime (in hours) of a certain light bulb is modeled by the exponential distribution with a mean lifetime of 1000
hours. Find the probability that a randomly chosen light bulb lasts more than 1200 hours.

14. Let X be uniformly distributed on the interval [0, 2]. Find the PDF of X and calculate P (0.5 ≤ X ≤ 1.5).

15. A random variable X follows a normal distribution with mean 50 and standard deviation 10. Find P (40 ≤ X ≤ 60).

16. Convert the following data points to their corresponding z-scores for a normal distribution with µ = 100 and σ =
15, 85, 110, 125.
17. A random variable X follows a normal distribution. Prove that P (X = x) = 0 for any specific value x.

18. A laser beam’s intensity profile follows a Gaussian distribution. Calculate the full width at half maximum (FWHM)
in terms of the standard deviation.

19. The lifetime of a light bulb follows an exponential distribution. If the mean lifetime is 1200 hours, calculate the
probability that a bulb lasts longer than 1500 hours.

20. A random variable X follows a normal distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation 1. Find P (−1 ≤ X ≤ 2).

21. Let X ∼Uniform[0, 1]. Find P (X2 < 0.5).

22. A continuous random variable X has the PDF f (x) = √1 e−x2/2 . Verify that this is a valid PDF.
2π

23. A die is rolled repeatedly until a 6 appears. What is the expected number of rolls?

24. A random variable X has the CDF F (x) = 1 − e−λx for x ≥ 0. Identify the distribution of X and find its variance.

25. A spacecraft’s position is tracked using radar, with measurement noise modeled as a normal distribution. Calculate
the probability of a position error exceeding 2 standard deviations.

26. The height distribution of water waves is modeled by the Rayleigh distribution. Derive its mean and standard deviation.

27. In particle accelerators, beam energy spread follows a Gaussian distribution. Calculate the probability of finding a
particle within ±1 standard deviation of the mean energy.

28. A harmonic oscillator’s displacement is modeled as a normal random variable with mean 0 and variance 1. Find the
probability of the displacement exceeding 1.5.

29. In fluid dynamics, turbulence intensities follow a log-normal distribution. Derive the mean and variance of this
distribution.

30. An electron’s energy in a conduction band is uniformly distributed. Find the probability of its energy being less than
a given threshold.

31. The waiting time for neutrino detections follows an exponential distribution. Calculate the probability of observing
two detections within 10 seconds.

32. A satellite’s orbital period is normally distributed with a mean of 90 minutes and a standard deviation of 2 minutes.
Find the probability that a randomly chosen orbit is longer than 92 minutes.

33. In an experiment, the time between successive emissions of two radioactive sources is recorded as random variables
X and Y . Derive their joint probability density function (PDF) assuming independence.

34. X and Y are the number of particles detected by two adjacent detectors, modeled as independent Poisson random
variables with means λ1 = 4 and λ2 = 6. Find the joint PMF P (X = 3, Y = 5).

35. A particle’s velocity components Vx and Vy in 2D are jointly Gaussian with zero mean and variance σ 2 . Derive the
joint PDF.

36. Two detectors measure photons, with counts X and Y following independent Binomial distributions Binomial (n1 , p)
and Binomial (n2 , p).

37. Two random variables X and Y represent the number of photons emitted by two lasers per unit time, modeled as
independent Poisson random variables. Find the joint PMF and the probability P (X + Y = 5).
38. Show that the sum of two independent Poisson random variables X ∼ Poisson(λ1 ) and Y ∼ Poisson(λ2 ) is Z ∼
Poisson(λ1 + λ2 ).

39. The heights of two correlated particles in a liquid are modeled as jointly normal random variables with correlation
coefficient ρ. Find the joint PDF and calculate P (X + Y ≤ 3).

40. In a two-slit interference experiment, the probabilities of photon detections at positions X and Y are given by a joint
PDF. Calculate the probability of a photon landing within a specified region.
(x+y)! x y
41. The joint PMF of X and Y is: P (X = x, Y = y) = x!y! p q , where x, y ≥ 0 and p + q = 1. Identify the type of
distribution and derive its marginal distributions.

42. The joint distribution of X and Y represents correlated forces on two objects. Derive the probability that both forces
exceed a given threshold.

43. In fluid dynamics, velocities Vx and Vy follow a bivariate normal distribution. Discuss the physical implications of
their correlation.

44. A photon detection system records arrival times T1 and T2 as independent exponential random variables. Derive the
joint distribution of T1 and T2 and calculate P (T 1 < T 2).

45. Two random variables X and Y represent the momentum components of a particle in 2D. If X and Y are uncorrelated,
prove that Cov(X, Y ) = 0.

46. A bivariate random variable (X, Y ) has joint PDF:

f (x, y) = k(x + y), 0 ≤ x, y ≤ 1

= 0 Otherwise

Find k and the marginal PDFs.

47. A random vector X = (X, Y, Z) follows a multivariate normal distribution. Derive the joint distribution of X and Y
conditioned on Z = z.
 2 2
1 a1 +a2
48. In signal processing, the amplitudes of two signals are jointly distributed as: f (a1 , a2 ) = 2πσ 2 exp − 2σ 2 Calcu-
late the probability that both amplitudes are less than σ.

49. In cosmology, the mass and luminosity of galaxies are modeled using bivariate distributions. Discuss how their
correlation affects observational data.

50. Two random variables X and Y represent the temperature and pressure fluctuations in a star, modeled as a bivari-
ate normal distribution. Calculate the probability of both fluctuations being within one standard deviation of their
respective means.

51. In particle physics, the momenta of two particles in a collision are modeled using multivariate normal distributions.
Derive the marginal and conditional distributions of one particle’s momentum given the other.
2 = 4 and σ 2 = 9, calculate the
52. For the random variables X and Y with covariance Cov(X, Y ) = 3, variances σX Y
correlation coefficient ρ.

53. For a random variable X with CDF FX (x) = 1 − e−λx for x ≥ 0, derive the median.

54. For a sample of size n from an exponential distribution with mean 1/λ, derive the maximum likelihood estimator
(MLE) of λ.
55. In a particle counting experiment, 20 events are observed in 10 seconds. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the
true rate of events per second.

56. A random sample of size n = 100 is drawn from a population with mean µ = 50 and standard deviation σ = 10. Use
the CLT to approximate the probability that the sample mean exceeds 52.

57. For independent random variables X1 , X2 , ..., Xn with mean µ and variance σ 2 , derive the distribution of the sample
mean as n → ∞ using the CLT.

58. A detector records the arrival times of particles. The times are modeled as independent exponential random variables.
Use the CLT to approximate the distribution of the sum of 50 arrival times.

59. In an experiment, the total energy of a system is the sum of independent contributions from n = 30 subsystems. Each
contribution follows an exponential distribution with mean µ = 2. Approximate the probability that the total energy
exceeds 70.

60. Measurements of a particle’s position are repeated 100 times, with independent errors following a uniform distribution
on [−1, 1]. Use the CLT to approximate the probability that the average error exceeds 0.2.