Control of Industrial Processes Sheet 1 Page 1

Control of Industrial Processes

Sheet 1 Probability and Random Variables

1. The following table gives the probability distribution of a discrete
random variable x
X 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
P(x) 0.11 0.19 0.28 0.15 0.12 0.09 0.06

Find the following probabilities:
a. P (x = 3) (0.15)
b. P (x 2) (0.58)
c. P (x 4) (0.27)
d. P (1 x 4) (0.74)

2. The following table gives the probability distribution of a discrete
random variable x

X 0 1 2 3 4 5
P (x) 0.03 0.17 0.22 0.31 0.15 0.12

Find the following probabilities:
a. probability that x assumes a value less than 3 (0.42)
b. probability that x assumes a value greater than 3 (0.27)
c. probability that x assumes a value in the interval 2 to 4 (0.68)

3. a consumer agency surveyed all 2500 families in a small town to collect
data on the number of television sets owned by them. The following
table lists the frequency distribution of the data collected by this
agency

Number of TV sets owned 0 1 2 3 4
Number of families 120 970 730 410 270

a. construct a probability distribution table
b. let x denote the number of television sets owned by a randomly
selected family from this town. Find the probability:
i. P (x = 1) (0.388)
Control of Industrial Processes Sheet 1 Page 2

ii. P (x >2) (0.272)
iii. P ( x 1) (0.436)
iv. P (1 x 3) (0.844)

4. let x be the number of heads obtained in two tosses of a coin. The
following table lists the probability distribution of x

X 0 1 2
P (x) 0.25 0.50 0.25

Calculate the mean and standard deviation of x (1.00, 0.71)

5. let x be a random variable that represents the number of students
who are absent on a given day from a class of 25. the following table
lists the probability distribution of x

X 0 1 2 3 4 5
P (x) 0.08 0.18 0.32 0.22 0.14 0.06

Calculate the mean and standard deviation of x (2.34, 1.31)

6. determine the following probabilities for the standard normal
distribution:
a. P (-1.83 z 2.57) (0.9613)
b. P (0 z 2.02) (0.4783)
c. P (z 1.48) (0.0694)
d. P (0.67 z 2.49) (0.2450)
e. P (z <2.12) (0.9830)
f. P ( z < -1.31) ( 0.0951)
g. P ( z> -0.98) ( 0.8365)

7. let x be a continuous random variable that is normally distributed with
a mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 15. find the probability that
x assumes a value
a. less than 43 ( 0.0708)
b. greater than 74 ( 0.2743
c. greater than 56 (0.7257)
d. less than 71 (0.6554)
Control of Industrial Processes Sheet 1 Page 3


8. let x be a continuous random variable that is normally distributed with
a mean of 25 and a standard deviation of 6. find the probability that x
assumes a value
a. between 29 and 36 ( 0.2178)
b. between 22 and 33 (0.5997)

9. let x denote the time it takes to run a road test. Suppose x is
approximately normally distributed with a mean of 190 minutes and a
standard deviation of 21 minutes. If one runner is selected at random,
what is the probability that this runner complete this road race
a. in less than 150 minutes (0.0287)
b. in 205 to 245 minutes (0.2345)

10. According to the records of an electric company serving the Cairo
area, the mean electric consumption for all households during winter is
1650 kilowatts per month. Assume that the monthly electric
consumptions during winter by all households in this area have a
normal distribution with a mean of 1650 kilowatt-hours and a standard
deviation of 320 kilowatts hours
a. find the probability that the monthly electric consumption
during winter by a randomly selected household from this area
is less than 1850 kilowatts-hour (0.7357)
b. what percentage of the households in this area have a monthly
electric consumption of 900 to 1340 kilowatts-hour?
(15.64%)

11. The amount of time, in minutes, that a person must wait for a bus is
uniformly distributed between 0 and 15 minutes, inclusive.
a. What is the probability that a person waits fewer than 12.5
minutes? (0.8333)
b. On the average, how long must a person wait? Find the mean, ,
and the standard deviation, . (7.5, 4.3)
c. Ninety percent of the time, the time a person must wait falls
below what value? (13.5)