Department of Mathematics University of Moratuwa

Faculty of Engineering Semester 2- 2010

MA 1022- MATHEMATICAL METHODS

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ASSIGNMENT 3
Distributed during the week starting on 17/05/2010.Assignment 3 will be discussed in class

1. Reliability of a component 𝑅(𝑡) is defined as 𝑹 𝒕 = 𝑷(𝑻 > 𝒕) where 𝑇 is the lifetime of a component
a. The lifetime 𝑇, of a particular component is normally distributed with mean 6 years and variance
0.25 years. What is the reliability of the component at 7 years?
b. The lifetimes, 𝑇𝐴 and 𝑇𝐵 of components of type 𝐴 and 𝐵 in hours, have probability density function
𝑓 𝑡 = 𝜆𝑒 −𝜆𝑡 𝑡 > 0, with 𝜆 = 0.1 and 𝜆 = 0.5 for components 𝐴 and 𝐵 respectively.
i. Show that 𝑓 𝑡 is a valid probability density function and derive expressions for 𝐸 𝑇 and 𝑉𝑎𝑟(𝑇)
ii. Determine the reliability functions associated with 𝑇𝐴 and 𝑇𝐵
iii. Determine the reliability of each type of component at 90 minutes
iv. A system (Figure 3.1) is made up of six
components, A1 and A2, of type 𝐴 and B1, B2, B3
and B4, of type 𝐵. All components operate
independently and each have lifetimes as described
in (b). The system functions as long as there is a
path of functioning components between S and T.
Determine the reliability of the system at 90 minutes. Figure 3.1

2. The number of people asking for emergency dental treatment per day at Hospital A is a Poisson variate
with a mean value of 2. The number of requests for emergency treatment per day at Hospital B is an
independent Poisson variate with a mean of 3. Find to 3 s.f., the probability that
a. Both hospitals have exactly two requests for emergency treatment
b. Less than two people in total ask for emergency treatment at either or both hospitals.

Find an expression for the probability that both hospitals have the same number of requests for
emergency treatments.

3. In a distribution where the weight 𝑊 kg of certain items are exactly normal,10.03% of the items are
under 25kg weight and 89.97% of the items are under 70 kg weight.
a. What is the mean and the standard deviation of the distribution?
b. What percentage of the items has their weight greater than 50kg and less than 60kg.

4. Solve sin 𝑥 = 0 in the interval 𝑥 ∈ 3,4 , Using

a. Bisection method
b. False position method
Comment on your results.

5. Use bisection and false position to locate the root of 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥10 − 1 between 𝑥 = 0 and 1.3
Comment on your results.

6. Find the approximate value of the real root of the equation 𝑥 3 − 3𝑥 + 4 = 0 that lies between -2 and
-3, correct to three decimals places, using the method of false position three times in succession.
Apply modified false position method and repeat the procedure.

Department of Mathematics, 17/05/2010

Website:http://www.math.mrt.ac.lk/content/kevin_notes/ma1022_tutorial_2010
Department of Mathematics University of Moratuwa
Faculty of Engineering Semester 2- 2010

MA 1022- MATHEMATICAL METHODS

_________________________________________________________________________________
ASSIGNMENT 4
Write answers to all questions and submit during the week starting on 30/05/2010

1. The social networking website Facebook has a large number of users regularly connecting to its
computers. On average only 3 users every hour fail to connect to Facebook at their first attempt.
a. Give reasons why a Poisson distribution might be a suitable model for the number of failed
connections every hour.
b. Find the probability that in a randomly chosen hour
i. All Facebook users connect at their first attempt,
ii. More than 4 users fail to connect at their first attempt.
c. Write down the distribution of the number of users failing to connect at their first attempt in an
8-hour period.
d. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that 12 or more users fail to connect at their
first attempt in a randomly chosen 8-hour period.

2. Under severe operating conditions the lifetime, in months, of a transistor is exponentially distributed
with parameter 𝜆 = 0.2
a. Find the probability that such a transistor lasts longer than 8 months
b. Find the probability that the lifetime of a transistor is between 4 and 9 months
c. Find the mean life time and the median life time
d. Find the standard deviation of the lifetimes
e. Find the 25th percentile of lifetimes

3. Mass produced components are packed in boxes of 4. Probability that a single component being
satisfactory is 𝑝. The probability that a box contains atleast two satisfactory components is 0.95.
Show that 𝑝 must satisfy the equation 3𝑝4 − 8𝑝3 + 6𝑝2 − 0.95 = 0
Solve this equation for 𝑝 using an appropriate numerical technique.

4. Suppose that you are an owner of a TV manufacturing company and you need to determine the
minimum number of TV that you need to manufacture to make profit. The equation that gives the
minimum number of TV ( 𝑙 ) to be made after considering the total costs is
𝑓 𝑙 = 40𝑙1.5 − 875𝑙 + 35000 = 0
Use the bisection method of finding roots of equations to find the minimum number of TV that needs
to be made to make a profit. Conduct three iterations to estimate the root of the above equation.
Find the absolute relative approximate error at the end of each iteration and the number of
significant digits correct at the end of each iteration.

5. Apply graphical method to find the root of the non linear equation 𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑥 − 𝑒 −𝑥 = 0 taking initial
interval 𝑥0 = 0.55 and 𝑥1 = 0.575 ,which includes the root.
Taking 0.575 as a first approximation to the root of 𝑓 𝑥 = 0, use the Newton- Raphson procedure
to find the 3rd approximation of the root.

10 1
6. To evaluate the summation 𝑖=1 𝑖 2 , apply three digits chopping method.
10 1
Using the same method find the summation in the form of 𝑖=1 (11−𝑖)2 . Which one gives a better
answer?
Department of Mathematics, 17/05/2010
Website:http://www.math.mrt.ac.lk/content/kevin_notes/ma1022_tutorial_2010