Refresher for May 2022 CE Board Takers Engineering Data Analysis 1

1 Probability distributions
1. The useful life T (in hours) of welding machines can be approximately described using the
following PDF:
0.2e−0.2t if t ⩾ 0
(
fT (t) =
0 otherwise
What is the probability that a welding machine selected at random has a useful life

(a) between 50 and 100 hours?

(b) less than 30 hours?

2. A construction company has an experience record showing that 60% of its projects were com-
pleted on schedule. In the next 6 projects,

(a) What is the expected number of projects that the company will finish on schedule?
(b) What is the most probable number of projects that will be completed on schedule?
(c) What is the standard deviation of the number of projects completed on schedule?

3. For the PDF shown below

(a) Check if this is a valid PDF.

(b) Calculate the expected value of the distribution.
(c) Calculate the standard deviation of the distribution.
(d) Calculate the skewness of the distribution.
(e) Calculate the kurtosis of the distribution.

4. Statistical data of vehicular accidents show that the annual vehicle miles (i.e. miles per vehicle
per year) driven between traffic accidents (of all severities) can be represented by a normal
random variable with a mean of 15,000 miles per year and a coefficient of variation of 25%.

(a) If a driver selected at random drives 10,000 miles a year, what is the probability that the
driver encounters a traffic accident in a particular year?
(b) If the same driver in (a) has already driven 8,000 miles accident-free in a particular year,
what is the probability that the driver encounters a traffic accident for the rest of the year?
(c) Answer (a), but this time, use lognormal distribution instead of normal distribution.

5. A reinforced concrete building was designed for seismic loads based on a design earthquake
intensity with a return period of 1000 years, as specified in the structural code. Assume that
earthquakes only occur once a year.

(a) What is the probability that the building experiences the design earthquake twice in 5
years?

Engr. Jaydee N. Lucero 1

Refresher for May 2022 CE Board Takers Engineering Data Analysis 1

(b) What is the probability that the building experiences the design earthquake intensity for
the first time in the fifth year?
(c) What is the probability that the building experiences the design earthquake for the first
time within 5 years after its construction?
(d) What is the probability that the building experiences the design earthquake for the third
time in the fifth year?

6. From previous statistical data of traffic counts, an average of 60 cars per hour was observed to
make left turns at a given intersection.

(a) What is the probability that exactly 10 cars will make left turns at the intersection in a
10-minute interval?
(b) What is the probability that a car will make left turn at the intersection for the first time
after 30 seconds?

7. In a box of 100 strain gages, suppose we suspect that there may be four gages that are defective.
If six of the gages from the box were used in an experiment, what is the probability that one
defective gage was used in the experiment?

2 Inferential statistics
8. Find the 95% confidence interval of the true mean yield strength of rebars for the following
scenarios.

(a) sample mean = 37.5 psi, population standard deviation = 3.0 psi, 50 bars were tested
(b) sample mean = 37.5 psi, population standard deviation = 3.0 psi, 25 bars were tested
(c) sample mean = 37.5 psi, sample standard deviation = 3.0 psi, 50 bars were tested

9. In a traffic survey, the speeds of vehicles are measured by laser guns for the purpose of determin-
ing the mean vehicle speed on a particular city street. It is known that the standard deviation
of city streets with the same posted speed limit is 3.58 kph. If we wish to determine the mean
vehicle speed to within ±1 kph with a 99% confidence, what should be the sample size of our
observations?

10. In order to control the quality of the compaction of the subgrade in a highway pavement project,
50 soil specimens were prepared and tested. Three of the samples were found to have compaction
below the CBR requirement. What is the 95% confidence interval of the proportion of well-
compacted pavement?

11. From a data record of 25 storms, it is estimated that the sample variance of the runoff on the
Monocracy River is 0.36 in2 . What is the upper 95% confidence limit of the population variance
for the runoff of the river?

12. Suppose the specification for the yield strength of rebars required a mean value of 38 psi. It is,
therefore, essential that the population of rebars to be used in the construction of a reinforced
concrete structure has the required mean strength. From the rebars delivered to the construction
site by the supplier, the engineer ordered that a sample of 50 rebars be randomly selected and
tested for yield strengths. The sample mean from the 50 tests yielded a value of 37.5 psi. It is
known that the standard deviation of rebar strength from the supplier is 3.0 psi. Check if the
rebars sampled from the supplier satisfy the required yield strength of the specification. Use 5%
level of significance.

Engr. Jaydee N. Lucero 2