NAME : KEMBOI K DAVID

REG NO : BBIT/2020/63755
UNIT NAME : PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS I
UNIT CODE : BMA1104

1. State three reasons that may discourage you from using measures of central tendency in
analyzing data.
• Its susceptibility to the influence of outliers. As the data becomes skewed the mean
loses its ability to provide the best central location for the data because the skewed
data is dragging it away from the typical value.
• Sometimes the end figure is a decimal figure, which makes the data less meaningful

• Does not work well with small sets of data.

2. Differentiate between discrete and continuous random variables giving an example in

each case.
A discrete variable is a variable whose value is obtained by counting.eg

• number of students present

• Number of heads when flipping three coins
• Students’ grade level
A continuous variable is a variable whose value is obtained by measuring.

• height of students in class

• Weight of students in class
• Time it takes to get to school
3. The data below represents marks scored by a student in two units, A and B.
A 23 54 65 36 78 41 25 17 86
B 86 41 42 39 70 62 59 15 10
 Can we say that the two units are correlated? Justify your answer.
4. The data below represents the mass of students in a statistics class
35 42 31 56 21 37 50 64 72 80
25 35 40 43 68 36 54 60 40 46
59 48 55 62 48 39 40 40 54 28

a) What is the mode of the data?

𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒 = 40
b) Create a frequency distribution table with a class width of 5.

Class limit (f) m.p(x) c..f fx m-x (m-x)2 F(m-x)2

20-25 2 22.5 2 45 -23.5 55.25 110.5
26-31 2 28.5 4 57 -17.5 306.25 612.5
32-37 4 34.5 8 138 -11.5 132.25 529
38-43 7 40.5 15 283.5 -5.5 30.25 211.75
44-49 3 46.5 18 139.5 -0.5 0.25 0.75
50-55 4 52.5 22 210 6.5 42.25 169
56-61 3 58.5 25 175.5 12.5 156.25 468.75
62-67 2 64.5 27 129 18.5 342.25 684.5
68-73 2 70.5 29 141 24.5 600.25 1200.5
74-79 0 76.5 29 0 0 0 0
80-85 1 82.5 30 82.5 36.5 1332.25 1332.25
∑𝑓 ∑ 𝑓𝑥 = 1401 ∑(𝑚 − ∑ 𝑓(𝑚 − 𝑥)2
𝑥 2 ) =2,997.5
= 30 = 5,319.5

c) Use the table to calculate the mean and the standard deviation.
∑ 𝑓𝑥
𝑚=
𝑓
1401
30
mean= 46

∑ 𝑓(𝑚 − ̅̅̅̅̅
𝑥)2
𝑠𝑡𝑑 = √
𝑛−1

5,319.5
=√
30 − 1

= √183.43

= 13.5436
 d) Use the table to evaluate the quartile deviation.
1
∗ 30 = 7.5
4
7.5 − 4
𝑄 = 32 +
4∗8
𝑄 = 32 + 112
= 144
e) Use the table to find the difference between the median and the 7th decile.
7
∗ 10 = 7
10
32 + (7 − 4)4 ∗ 8
= 116
𝑛
−𝑐
𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 𝑙 + 2
𝑓∗𝐶
38 + (15 − 8)/7 ∗ 3

𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 179

179 − 116 = 63
5. The probability that a student is left-handed in a class of 50 students is 30%.
a) What is the probability that no student is left-handed?

P=0.3

n=50

𝑃(𝑋 = 0) = 𝑃(𝑋 ≤ 0)

= 0.000
b) What is the probability that more than two students are left-handed?

𝑃(𝑋 > 2) = 𝑃(2) + 𝑃(3) … ..

𝑃(𝑋 ≥ 2) = 1 − 𝑃(𝑋 ≤ 2)

c) What is the probability that those that are left-handed are between 10 and 15?

𝑃(10 ≤ 𝑋 ≤ 15) = 𝑃(𝑋 ≤ 15) − 𝑃(𝑋 ≤ 10)

0.569 − 0.0079 = 0.49
6. The probability mass function of a random variable is given below.
 X -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
P(X=x) a 2a (1/2)a a 3a a 2a
a) Find the value of a.

𝑃(𝑋 = −3) + 𝑃(𝑋 = −2) + 𝑃(𝑋 = −1) + 𝑃(𝑋 = 0) + 𝑃(𝑋 = 1) + 𝑃(𝑋 = 2) + 𝑃(𝑋 = 3) = 1

𝑎 + 2𝑎 + 0.5𝑎 + 𝑎 + 3𝑎 + 𝑎 + 2𝑎 = 1
10.5𝑎 = 1
2
𝑎=
21
b) Evaluate the mean and standard deviation of X
2 2
× −3 = −
21 7
4 8
× −2 = − … ….
21 21
2 8 1 1 4 4 1
− ± ± ± + ± =
7 21 21 7 21 7 3
1
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 =
3
1 10
3− = (− )2
3 3
1 7
2− = (− )2
3 3
1 1
1− = (− )2
3 3
1 1
1− = ( )2
3 3
1 5
2− = ( )2
3 3
1 8
3− = ( )2
3 3
100 49 1 1 25 64 240
+ + + + + =
9 9 9 9 9 9 9

240
√
9

𝑠𝑡𝑑 = 5.16
 7. A random variable X has a p.d.f. defined by
1 −2𝑥
𝑓(𝑥) = { 𝑡 𝑒 , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑥 > 0
0, 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
a) Find the value of t.
0
1
∫ 𝑒 −2𝑥 )𝑑𝑥
𝑡
0

1 1−3𝑥
( + 1)
2 𝑡
1
=1
2𝑡
𝑡=2
b) Evaluate E[x]
c) Calculate the standard deviation of x.
8. The rate at which oil drops trip on an oil leakage is 3 drops pe minute.
a) What is the probability that exactly 5 drops will trip in 2 minutes?
𝑛!
𝑃(𝑋) = . 𝑝 𝑥 . 𝑞 𝑛−𝑥
(𝑛 − 𝑥)!. 𝑥!
P=0.3

n=5

x=2

q=0.7
2!
𝑃(2) = . 0. 32 . 0. 73
(5 − 2)! 2!

= 0.05145
b) What is the probability of exactly 10 drops will trip in 1 minute?
𝑛!
𝑃(𝑋) = . 𝑝 𝑥 . 𝑞 𝑛−𝑥
(𝑛 − 𝑥)!. 𝑥!
2!
𝑃(3) = . 0. 52 . 0. 51
(3 − 2)! 2!
= 0.375

c) What is the mean and variance of the number of drops that trip per second?