Mathematics: analysis and approaches

Higher level
Paper 3 v1

■ sample question #3 ■

Worked Solution

(a)
x 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

P ( X = x ) 11 36 1 36 2 36 3 36 4 36 5 36 4 36 3 36 2 36 1 36

11 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 25
(b) E ( X ) = 0  + 2  + 3  + 4  + 5  + 6  + 7  + 8  + 9  + 10  = = 4.16
36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 6

25
(c)
36

(d)
y 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

P (Y = y ) 1
25
2
25
3
25
4
25
5
25
4
25
3
25
2
25
1
25

1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 150
(e) (i) E ( X ) = 2  + 3  + 4  + 5  + 6  + 7  + 8  + 9  + 10  = =6
25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25

expected score of 6 can also be explained by the symmetry of the probability distribution

(ii) assuming no six shows, the expected score for each roll is 6; so, the expected total is 6n

n
 25 
(f) n = 6n  
 36 

(g) 1  4.17, 2  5.79, 3  6.03, 4  5.58, 5  4.85 ... and the probabilities continue to decrease.
The best strategy is that which gives the maximum expected score; so, attempting to roll the two
dice three times is best.

n
5
(h) n = 3n   ; 1 = 2.5, 2  4.17, 3  5.21, 4  5.79, 5  6.03, 6  6.03, 7  5.86, 7  5.58
6  
... and the probabilities continue to decrease. The maximum expected score is the same for 5
15625
rolls and 6 rolls; both are exactly . Thus, the best strategy would be to attempt to roll the
2592
one die 5 or 6 times.

© InThinking – IB Maths: Analysis