THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND ACTUARIAL SCIENCE

STAT1306 INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
(SEMESTER 1 2008/2009)
Assignment 1

Hand in solutions by 6th October, 2008

1. Counting the number of outcomes in games of chance has been a popular

pastime for many centuries. This was of interest not only because of the
gambling that was involved, but also because the outcomes of games of change
were often interpreted as divine intent. Thus, it was just about a thousand
years ago that a bishop in what is now Belgium determined that there are 56
di¤erent ways in which three dice can fall provided one is interested only in
the overall result and not in which die does what he assigned a virtue to each
of these possibilities and each sinner and to concentrate for some time on the
virtue that corresponds to his cast of dice.

(a) Find the number of ways in which three dice can all come up with the
same number of points.
(b) Find the number of ways in which two of three dice can come up with the
same number of points, while the third comes up with a di¤erent number
of points.
(c) Find the number of ways in which all three of the dice can come up with
a di¤erent number of points.
(d) Use the results of (a), (b) and (c) to verify the bishop’s calculations that
there are altogether 56 possibilities.

2. Among the seven candidates for two vacancies of a company are three men
and four women. In how many ways can these vacancies be …lled.

(a) with any two of the seven nominees;

(b) with any two of the four women;
(c) with one of the men and one of the women?

3. If n is not a positive integer or zero, the binomial expansion of (1 + y)n yields,

for 1 < y < 1, the in…nite series
n n n n
1+ y+ y2 + y3 + + yr +
1 2 3 r

n n (n 1) : : : (n r + 1)
where = for r = 1; 2; 3; : : :. Indeed, the
r r!
binomial coe¢ cients de…ned here are more general than those in the lecture
 note. Surely, when n is a positive integer, the de…nition here can be reduced
to the conventional one.
1
2
3
(a) Evaluate and .
4 3
p
5 1 1=2
p
(b) By using 2
= 1+ 4
, …nd the value of 5 with the …rst four terms
1 1=2
of the binomial expansion of 1 + 4
.
1 n n+r 1
(c) Show that = ( 1)r and = ( 1)r for
r r r
n > 0.

4. Given P (A) = 0:59, P (B) = 0:30, and P (A [ B) = 0:68, …nd

(a) P (A \ B); (b) P (A \ B);
(c) P (A [ B); (d) P (A \ B);

5. A biology professor has two graduate assistants helping her with her research.
The probability that the older of the two assistants will be absent on any given
day is 0.08, the probability that the younger of the two will be absent on any
given day is 0.05, and the probability that they will both be absent on any
given day is 0.02. Find the probabilities that

(a) either or both of the graduate assistants will be absent on any given day;
(b) at least one of the two graduate assistants will not be absent on any given
day;
(c) only one of the two graduate assistants will be absent on any given day.

6. A mail-order house employs three stock clerks, U, V and W, who pull items
from shelves and assemble them for subsequent veri…cation and packaging. U
makes a mistake in an order (gets a wrong item or the wrong quantity) one
time in a hundred, V makes a mistake in an order …ve times in a hundred, and
W makes a mistake in an order three times in a hundred. If U, V and W …ll,
respectively, 30, 40, and 30 percent of all orders, what are the probabilities
that

(a) a mistake will be made in an order;

(b) if a mistake is made in an order, the order was …lled by U;
(c) if a mistake is made in an order, the order was …lled by V?