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Normal Distribution Revision

Question 1
[Edexcel S1 June 2009 Q8c]

The lifetimes of bulbs used in a lamp are normally distributed.

A company 𝑋 sells bulbs with a mean lifetime of 850 hours and a standard deviation of 50
hours.

A rival company 𝑌 sells bulbs with a mean lifetime of 860 hours and 20% of these bulbs have a
lifetime of less than 818 hours.

Find the standard deviation of the lifetimes of bulbs from company 𝑌.

..........................

(4 marks)

Question 2
[Edexcel S1 June 2011 Q2a]

The random variable 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(𝜇, 52 ) and 𝑃(𝑋 < 23) = 0.9192

Find the value of 𝜇

𝜇 = ..........................

(4 marks)

Question 3
[Edexcel S1 June 2012 Q6c]

The heights of an adult female population are normally distributed with mean 162 cm and
standard deviation 7.5 cm.

The heights of an adult male population are normally distributed with standard deviation 9.0
cm.

Given that 90% of adult males are taller than the mean height of adult females, find the mean
height of an adult male.

.......................... cm

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(4 marks)

Question 4
[OCR A2 June 2018 P2 Q8ii]

𝜇2
The variable 𝑌 has the distribution 𝑁 (𝜇, ).
9

Find 𝑃(𝑌 > 1.5𝜇).

..........................

(3 marks)

Question 5
The random variable 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(30, 𝜎 2 )

Given that 𝑃(𝑋 < 32) = 0.87, find the value of 𝜎.

Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

𝜎 = ..........................

Question 6
Given that 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(7, 0.22 ), find the value of 𝑧 such that

𝑃ℎ𝑖 (𝑧) = 𝑃(𝑋 < 7.1)

..........................

Question 7
The random variable 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(𝜇, 3.52 )

Given that 𝑃(𝑋 < 17) = 0.89, find the value of 𝜇.

Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

𝜇 = ..........................

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Question 8
The random variable 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(26, 𝜎 2 )

Given that 𝑃(𝑋 < 21) = 0.14, find the value of 𝜎.

Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

𝜎 = ..........................

Question 9
Given that 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(22, 42 ), find the value of 𝑧 such that

𝑃ℎ𝑖 (𝑧) = 𝑃(𝑋 < 25)

..........................

Question 10
[Edexcel S2 June 2017 Q5a]

The time taken for a randomly selected person to complete a test is 𝑀 minutes, where
𝑀 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(14, 𝜎 2 )

Given that 10% of people take less than 12 minutes to complete the test, find the value of 𝜎.

𝜎 = ..........................

(3 marks)

Question 11
The random variable 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(𝜇, 62 )

Given that 𝑃(𝑋 < 35) = 0.88, find the value of 𝜇.

Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

𝜇 = ..........................

Question 12
The random variable 𝑋 𝑠𝑖𝑚 𝑁(45, 𝜎 2 )

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Given that 𝑃(𝑋 < 43) = 0.36, find the value of 𝜎.

Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

𝜎 = ..........................

Question 13
[OCR A2 June 2018 P2 Q8ic]

The variable 𝑋 has the distribution 𝑁(20,9).

Find 𝑏 such that 𝑃(20 − 𝑏 < 𝑋 < 20 + 𝑏) = 0.5.

𝑏 = ..........................

(3 marks)

Question 14
[OCR A2 June 2018 P2 Q8ib]

The variable 𝑋 has the distribution 𝑁(20,9).

Given that 𝑃(𝑋 > 𝑎) = 0.2, find 𝑎.

𝑎 = ..........................

(1 mark)

Question 15
[Edexcel IAL S1 Jan 2019 Q3c]

The weights of women boxers in a tournament are normally distributed with mean 64 kg and
standard deviation 8 kg.

In the tournament, women boxers who weigh more than 𝐻 kg are classified as heavyweight.

Given that 10% of the women boxers in the tournament are classified as heavyweight, find the
value of 𝐻.

𝐻 = ..........................

(3 marks)

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Question 16
[Edexcel S1 June 2014 Q7c]

The heights of adult females are normally distributed with mean 160 cm and standard
deviation 8 cm.

Any adult female whose height is greater than 170 cm is defined as tall.

Half of tall adult females have a height greater than ℎ cm.

Find the value of ℎ.

ℎ = .......................... cm

(5 marks)

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Answers

Question 1
50

Question 2
𝜇 = 16

Question 3
174 cm

Question 4
0.067

Question 5
𝜎 = 1.78

Question 6
𝑧 = 0.5

Question 7
𝜇 = 12.7

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Question 8
𝜎 = 4.63

Question 9
𝑧 = 0.75

Question 10
𝜎 = 1.56

Question 11
𝜇 = 28.0

Question 12
𝜎 = 5.58

Question 13
𝑏= 2

Question 14
𝑎 = 23

Question 15
𝐻 = 74.3

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Question 16
ℎ = 173 cm

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