Math 483 HW6 Due Friday, September 22

1) Two coins are to be flipped. The first coin will land on heads with probability .6,
the second with probability .7. Assume that the results of the flips are independent, and
let X equal the total number of heads that result. (a) Find P X = 1, (b) Determine E[X].

2) An urn contains 4 white and 4 black balls. We randomly choose 4 balls. If 2 of

them are white and 2 are black, we stop. If not, we replace the balls in the urn and again
randomly select 4 balls. This continues until exactly 2 of the 4 chosen are white. What
is the probability that we shall make exactly n selections?

3) An oil prospector will drill a succession of holes in a given area to find a productive
well. The probability that he is successful on a given trial is 0.2. What is the probability
that the third hole drilled is the first to yield a productive well?

4) Refer to problem 3). The prospector drills holes until he finds a productive well.
How many holes would the prospector expect to drill?

5) Let Y denote a Poisson random variable with mean = 2. Find P (Y = 4).

6) The number of knots in a type of wood has a Poisson distribution with an average
of 1.5 knots in 10 cubic feet of wood. Find the probability that a 10 cubic block of wood
has at most one knot.

7) A fair coin is continually flipped until heads appears for the 10th time. Let X denote
the number of tails that occur. Compute the probability mass function of X.

8) The monthly worldwide average number of airplane crashes of commercial airlines

is 3.5. What is the probability that there will be (a) at least 2 such accidents in the next
month; (b) at most 1 accident in the next month? Explain your reasoning!

9) If Y has a binomial distribution with n trials and probability of success p, then the
moment generating function for Y is m(t) = (pet + q)n , where q = 1 p. Differentiate
the moment generating function to find E(Y ) and E(Y 2 ). Then find V (Y ).

10) Let m(t) = (1/6)et + (2/6)e2t + (3/6)e3t . Find the following: a) E(Y ). b) V (Y ).

11) Let X be such that P (X = 1) = p = 1 P (X = 1) Find c 6= 1 such that

E[cX ] = 1.
12) Let X be a binomial random variable with parameters n and p. Show that

1 1 (1 p)n+1
E[ ]=
X +1 (n + 1)p
13) Let X be a Poisson random variable with parameter . Show that
1
P {Xis even} = (1 + e2 )
2