Alexandria University 3rd Year Power 2016

Faculty of Engineering Probability and Statistics

Sheet 5
Special Discrete Probability Distributions

Question (1):
A congested computer network has a 5% chance of losing a data packet. Assume that packet losses
are independent events. An e-mail message requires 100 packets.
(a) What is the probability that at least two packets must be re-sent?
(b) What is the mean and standard deviation of the number of packets that must be re-sent?
(c) If there are 10 messages and each contains 100 packets, what is the probability that at least
one message requires two or more packets be re-sent?

Question (2):
The space shuttle flight control system called PASS (Primary Avionics Software Set) uses four
independent computers working in parallel. At each critical step, the computers vote to determine
the appropriate step. The computer will ask for a roll to the left when a roll to the right is
appropriate is 0.001. What is the probability that exactly two computers will ask for a roll to the
left when a roll to the right is appropriate?

Question (3):
Batches that consist of 50 coil springs from a production process are checked for conformance to
customer requirements. The probability that a coil spring does not conform to requirements is 0.1.
(a) What is the mean number of non-conforming springs in a batch?
(b) What is the probability that there are at most 2 non-conforming parts in a batch?
(c) If 3 batches are examined, what is the probability that in each of them there are at most 2
non-conforming springs?

Question (4):
Imperfections in computer circuit boards are sometimes caused by failures of diodes contained in
their components chips. The probability that a diode fails is 0.03. There are 7 chips on board. Each
chip contains 10 diodes. A chip fails if more than 2 of its diodes fail. What is the probability that
three of the chips on board fail?

Question (5):
Samples of 20 parts from a metal punching process are selected every hour. Typically, 5% of the
parts require rework. Let X denote the number of parts in sample that require rework. A process
problem is suspected if X exceeds its mean by more than two times its standard deviation.
(a) Find the mean and standard deviation of X.
(b) Compute the probability of suspecting a problem with the punching process in a given
hour.

Question (6):
The phone lines to an airline reservation system are busy 60% of the time. Assume that the events
that the lines are busy on successive calls are independent. Assume that 10 calls are placed to the
airline.
(a) What is the probability that for at least 2 calls the lines are not all busy?
(b) What is the expected number of calls in which the lines are all busy?

Page 1 of 2
Question (7):
The number of flaws in a fiber optic cable follows a Poisson distribution with an average of 0.6 per
100 feet.
(a) Find the probability of at most 2 flaws in a 200-foot cable.
(b) Find the length of a cable (x) such that the probability of observing no flaws is equal to 0.9.
(c) Find the standard deviation of the number of flaws in a cable which is 100-foot long.

Question (8):
At a checkout counter customers arrive at an average rate of 1.5 per minute. If the number of
customers follows a Poisson distribution,
(a) Find the probability that at least 2 customers will arrive during an interval of 2 minutes.
(b) Find the length of an interval such that the probability of no customers arriving in this
interval is 0.95.

Question (9):
The number of errors in a textbook follows a Poisson distribution with a mean of 0.1 error per
page.
(a) What is the probability that there are two or less errors in 10 pages?
(b) If 10 pages are inspected, what is the probability that three of the 10 pages have exactly 2
errors per page?

Question (10):
Suppose that the number of customers that enter a bank in an hour is a Poisson random variable,
denoted as X. Suppose that P(X  0)  0.05 . Determine the mean and variance of X.

Question (11):
The probability of a man hitting a target is 1/4.
(a) If he fires seven times, what is the probability that the target is hit at least once?
(b) How many times must he fire so that the probability of hitting the target at least once is
greater than 2/3?
(c) If he fires until the target is hit, what is the probability that it will take exactly three tries to
hit the target?
(d) If he fires until the target is hit, what is the average number of tries needed to successfully
hit the target?

Question (12):
The probability of a successful optical alignment in an assembly of an optical storage product is
0.7. Assume that alignment trials are independent. Find the probability that the first successful
alignment requires:
(a) Exactly 4 trials.
(b) At most 4 trials.
(c) At least 4trials.

Question (13):
Among 6 keys only one key can open a certain door. Keys are tried one after the other (with
replacement) until the required key is found (and the door is unlocked).
a) Find the probability of making exactly 3 trials.
b) What is the expected number of trials?

Page 2 of 2