Calculus II

Preface
Here are the solutions to the practice problems for my Calculus II notes. Some solutions will have more
or less detail than other solutions. As the difficulty level of the problems increases less detail will go into
the basics of the solution under the assumption that if youve reached the level of working the harder
problems then you will probably already understand the basics fairly well and wont need all the
explanation.
This document was written with presentation on the web in mind. On the web most solutions are broken
down into steps and many of the steps have hints. Each hint on the web is given as a popup however in
this document they are listed prior to each step. Also, on the web each step can be viewed individually by
clicking on links while in this document they are all showing. Also, there are liable to be some formatting
parts in this document intended for help in generating the web pages that havent been removed here.
These issues may make the solutions a little difficult to follow at times, but they should still be readable.

Probability
1. Let,

3
x 2 ( 20 x ) if 2 x 18

f ( x ) = 37760
0
otherwise
(a) Show that f ( x ) is a probability density function.
(b) Find P ( X 7 ) .
(c) Find P ( X 7 ) .
(d) Find P ( 3 X 14 ) .
(e) Determine the mean value of X.

(a) Show that f ( x ) is a probability density function.

Okay, to show that this function is a probability density function we can first notice that in the range
2 x 18 the function is positive and will be zero everywhere else and so the first condition is satisfied.
The main thing that we need to do here is show that

2007 Paul Dawkins

f ( x ) dx = 1 .

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

Calculus II

=
f ( x ) dx

x 2 ( 20 x ) dx

18

3
2 37760

3
37760

18

20 x 2 x3 =
dx

3
37760

20
3

x3 14 x 4 =
) 1
18
2

The integral is one and so this is in fact a probability density function.

(b) Find P ( X 7 ) .
First note that because of our limits on x for which the function is not zero this is equivalent to
P ( 2 X 7 ) . Here is the work for this problem.

P ( X 7 )= P ( 2 X 7 )=

x 2 ( 20 x ) dx=

3
2 37760

3
37760

20
3

x3 14 x 4 ) = 0.130065
7

Note that we made use of the fact that weve already done the indefinite integral itself in the first part. All
we needed to do was change limits from that part to match the limits for this part.
(c) Find P ( X 7 ) .
First note that because of our limits on x for which the function is not zero this is equivalent to
P ( 7 X 18 ) . Here is the work for this problem.

P ( X 7 )= P ( 7 X 18 )=

18

3
37760

x 2 ( 20 x ) dx=

3
37760

20
3

x 3 14 x 4 ) = 0.869935
18
7

Note that we made use of the fact that weve already done the indefinite integral itself in the first part. All
we needed to do was change limits from that part to match the limits for this part.
(d) Find P ( X 7 ) .
Not much to do here other than compute the integral.

P (3 X =
14 )

14

3
37760

x 2 ( 20 =
x ) dx

3
37760

20
3

x 3 14 =
x4 )
0.677668
14
3

Note that we made use of the fact that weve already done the indefinite integral itself in the first part. All
we needed to do was change limits from that part to match the limits for this part.
(e) Determine the mean value of X.
For this part all we need to do is compute the following integral.

x f ( x ) dx
=

3
37760

18

18

3
x 37760
x 2 ( 20 x ) dx

=
20 x 3 x 4 dx

3
37760

(5x

15 x 5 ) = 11.6705
18
2

The mean value of X is then 11.6705.

2007 Paul Dawkins

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

Calculus II

2. For a brand of light bulb the probability density function of the life span of the light bulb is given by
the function below, where t is in months.
t

25
0.04
e
f (t ) =
0

if t 0
if t < 0

(a) Verify that f ( t ) is a probability density function.

(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

What is the probability that a light bulb will have a life span less than 8 months?
What is the probability that a light bulb will have a life span more than 20 months?
What is the probability that a light bulb will have a life span between 14 and 30 months?
Determine the mean value of the life span of the light bulbs.

(a) Show that f ( t ) is a probability density function.

Okay, to show that this function is a probability density function we can first notice that the exponential
portion is always positive regardless of the value of t we plug in and the remainder of the function is
always zero and so the first condition is satisfied.

The main thing that we need to do here is show that

=
f ( x ) dx

f ( x ) dx = 1 .

0.04e 25 dt lim 0.04e

=

n 0

t
25

dt

t
n

= lim e 25 = lim e 25 + 1=
0 +=
1 1

n
n

The integral is one and so this is in fact a probability density function.

For this integral do not forget to properly deal with the infinite limit! If you dont recall how to deal with
these kinds of integrals go back to the Improper Integral section and do a quick review!
(b) What is the probability that a light bulb will have a life span less than 8 months?
What this problem is really asking us to compute is P ( X 8 ) . Also, because of our limits on t for
which the function is not zero this is equivalent to P ( 0 X 8 ) . Here is the work for this problem.

P ( X 8) =
P ( 0 X 8) =
0.04e
8

t
25

dt =
e

t 8
25

=
0.273851

(c) What is the probability that a light bulb will have a life span more than 20 months?
What this problem is really asking us to compute is P ( X 20 ) . Here is the work for this problem.
2007 Paul Dawkins

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

Calculus II

P (=
X 20 )

20

e 25 dt lim 0.04e
=
0.04

t
25

n 20

dt

20

t
n

= lim e 25 = lim e 25 + e 25 = 0.449329

n

20 n

For this integral do not forget to properly deal with the infinite limit! If you dont recall how to deal with
these kinds of integrals go back to the Improper Integral section and do a quick review!
(d) What is the probability that a light bulb will have a life span between 14 and 30 months?
What this problem is really asking us to compute is P (14 X 30 ) . Here is the work for this problem.

P (14 X 30 ) =
0.04e
30

t
25

14

e
dt =

t 30
25

=
0.270015

14

(e) Determine the mean value of the life span of the light bulbs.
For this part all we need to do is compute the following integral.

t f ( t ) dt
=

=
te 25 dt lim 0.04te
0.04

t
25

n 0

dt

t
n
n

= lim te 25 25e 25 = lim n e 25 25e 25 ( 25 )

n

0 n

n
n

25
= lim n 25e + 25 = lim
n
n
e 25

1
n 25 ( 0 ) + 25=
1
25
25 e

25

The mean value of the life span of the light bulbs is then 25 months.
We had to use integration by parts to do the integral. Here is that work if you need to see it.

0.04te

0.04te

t
25

t
25

u = 0.04t

dt

dt =
t e 25 + e

t
25

du = 0.04dt
t

dt =
t e 25 25e

dv = e

t
25

dt

v = 25e

t
25

t
25

Also, for the limit of the first term we used LHospitals Rule to do the limit.

3. Determine the value of c for which the function below will be a probability density function.
2007 Paul Dawkins

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx

Calculus II

c ( 8 x3 x 4 ) if 0 x 8
f ( x) =
otherwise
0
Solution
This problem is actually easier than it might look like at first glance.
First, in order for the function to be a probability density function we know that the function must be
positive or zero for all x. We can see that for 0 x 8 we have 8 x 3 x 4 0 . Therefore, we need to
require that whatever c is it must be a positive number.
To find c well use the fact that we must also have

f ( x ) dx = 1 . So, lets compute this integral (with

the c in the function) and see what we get.

f ( x ) dx = c ( 8 x 3 x 4 ) dx = c ( 2 x 4 15 x 5 ) = 8192
5 c
8

So, we can see that in order for this integral to have a value of 1 (as it must in order for the function to be
a probability density function) we must have,

c=

5
8192

and note that this is also a positive number as we determined earlier was required.

2007 Paul Dawkins

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/terms.aspx