SOLUTIONS

1.TheRockwellElectronicsCorporationretainsaservicecrewtorepairmachinebreakdowns
thatoccuronanaverageof=3perday(approximatelyPoissoninnature).
Thecrewcanserviceanaverageof=8machinesperday,witharepairtimedistributionthat
resemblestheexponentialdistribution.
(a)Whatistheutilizationrateofthisservicesystem?
(b)Whatistheaveragedowntimeforamachinethatisbroken?
(c)Howmanymachinesarewaitingtobeservicedatanygiventime?
(d)Whatistheprobabilitythatmorethanonemachineisinthesystem?Probabilitythatmore
thantwoarebrokenandwaitingtoberepairedorbeingserviced?Morethanthree?Morethan
four?
a. The utilization rate, ,

= 0.375
b. The average down time, W,
W

1
1 = 0.2 day

83

c. The number of machines waiting to be served, Lq, is, on average,

Lq

2
32 = 0.225 machine waiting

8 8 3

d. Probability that more than one machine is in the system

Pn k

k 1

9
3
Pn 1
0.141
64
8

Probability that more than two machines are in the system:

3

Pn 2

27
3

0.053
512
8
4

81
3
Pn 3
0.020
4, 096
8
5

Pn 4

243
3

0.007
32, 768
8

2.Fromhistoricaldata,HarrysCarWashestimatesthatdirtycarsarriveattherateof10per
houralldaySaturday.Withacrewworkingthewashline,Harryfiguresthatcarscanbecleaned
attherateofoneevery5minutes.Onecaratatimeiscleanedinthisexampleofasingle
channelwaitingline.
AssumingPoissonarrivalsandexponentialservicetimes,findthe
(a)averagenumberofcarsinline.
(b)averagetimeacarwaitsbeforeitiswashed.
(c)averagetimeacarspendsintheservicesystem.
(d)utilizationrateofthecarwash.
(e)probabilitythatnocarsareinthesystem.

= 10 cars/hour, = 12 cars/hour.
a. The average number of cars in line, Lq,

2
102
102

= 4.167 cars
12 12 10 12 2

Lq

b. The average time a car waits before it is washed, Wq, is given by

Wq

10
10

= 0.4167 hour
12 12 10 12 2

c. The average time a car spends in the service system, W, is given by

W

1
1
1

hour
12 10 2

d. The utilization rate, , is given by

10

0.8333
12

e. The probability that no cars are in the system, P0, is given by:
P0 1

1 1 0.8333 0.1667

3.MikeDreskinmanagesalargeLosAngelesmovietheatercomplexcalledCinemaI,II,III,
andIV.Eachofthefourauditoriumsplaysadifferentfilm;thescheduleissetsothatstarting
timesarestaggeredtoavoidthelargecrowdsthatwouldoccurifallfourmoviesstartedatthe
sametime.Thetheaterhasasingleticketboothandacashierwhocanmaintainanaverage
servicerateof280moviepatronsperhour.
Servicetimesareassumedtofollowanexponentialdistribution.Arrivalsonatypicallyactive
dayarePoissondistributedandaverage210perhour.Todeterminetheefficiencyofthecurrent
ticketoperation,Mikewishestoexamineseveralqueueoperatingcharacteristics.
(a)Findtheaveragenumberofmoviegoerswaitinginlinetopurchaseaticket.
(b)Whatpercentageofthetimeisthecashierbusy?

(c)Whatistheaveragetimethatacustomerspendsinthesystem?
(d)Whatistheaveragetimespentwaitinginlinetogettotheticketwindow?
(e)Whatistheprobabilitythattherearemorethantwopeopleinthesystem?Morethanthree
people?Morethanfour?

= 210 patrons/hour, = 280 patrons/hour.

a. The average number of patrons waiting in line, Lq, is given by
Lq

2
2102
44,100 44,100

2.25 patrons in line

=
280 280 210 280 70 19, 600

b. The average fraction of time the cashier is busy, , is given by

210

0.75
280

c. The average time a customer spends in the ticket-dispensing system, W, is given by

1
1
1

= 0.0143 hour in the line

280 210 70

d. The average time spent by a patron waiting to get a ticket, Wq, is given by
Wq

210
210

= 38.6 seconds
280 280 210 280 70

e. The probability that there are more than two people in the system, Pn>2, is given by
Pn k

k 1

Pn 2

210

0.422
280

The probability that there are more than three people in the system, Pn > 3, is given by
4

210
0.316
280

Pn 3

The probability that there are more than four people in the system, Pn > 4, is given by
5

Pn 4

210

0.237
280