1. The hardness of a piece of pottery is proportional to the firing time.

Assume
that a rating system has been devised to rate the hardness of a ceramic dish
and that this measure of hardness is a random variable that is uniformly
distributed between 0 and 10. If hardness in the interval [5,9] is desirable for
kitchenware, what is the probability that a piece chosen at random will be
suitable for kitchen use?

Here X ~ U [ 0,10]
�1
� , 0 �x �10
� f ( x) = �10
�
�0 , otherwise
The hardness in the interval [ 5,9 ] is desirable for kitchenware.
The probability that a piece chosen at random will be suitable for kitchen use is,
9
P [ 5 �X �9] = �
f ( x ) dx
5
9
1
= � dx
5
10
9
1
10 �
= 1dx
5

=
1 9
10 5
x { }
4
=
10
= 0.4
2. A company annually uses thousands of electrical lamps, which burn
continuously day and night. Assume that, under such conditions, the life of a
lamp may be regarded as a variable normally distributed about a mean of 60
days with a standard deviation of 20 days. On January 1, the company put
10,000 new lamps into service. Approximately how many lamps would be
expected to need replacement by February 1 of the same year?

A company annually uses thousands of electrical lamps, which burn continuously

day and night. Assume that, under such conditions, the life ( X ) of a lamp may be
regarded as a variable normally distributed about a mean ( m ) of 60 days with a
standard deviation ( s ) of 20 days. On January 1, the company put 10,000 new
lamps into service.
X - 60
i.e. X ~ N ( m = 60, s = 20 ) � Z = ~ N ( 0,1)
20
Approximately, the number of lamps would be expected to need replacement by
February 1 of the same year is,
10, 000 �P ( Z �-3) = 10, 000 �0.00135 = 13.5 �14 bulbs
Taken lower 3s level as cutoff point, which generally used in Quality Control.
 3. Assume the grades received by a class of students on an examination are
normally distributed with a mean of 75 and standard deviation of 10 and that
the highest 10% of these grades are As. Find the lowest A.

Assume the grades ( X ) received by a class of students on an examination are normally

distributed with a mean ( m ) of 75 and standard deviation ( s ) of 10 and that the
highest 10% of these grades are A's.
X - 75
X ~ N ( m = 75, s = 10 ) � Z = ~ N ( 0,1)
10
Let x A is the lowest A. Then it satisfies the following equation:
P ( X > x A ) = 10%
= ‫ ޣ‬P( X xA ) 90%
�X - 75 x A - 75 �
= ‫ ޣ‬P� � 0.90
� 10 10 �
� x A - 75 �
=P �Z
�‫ޣ‬ � 0.90 ( I )
� 10 �
We have from standard normal distribution that, P ( Z �1.28 ) = 0.90 � ( II )
x A - 75
Comparing ( I ) & ( II ) , = 1.28 � x A = 75 + ( 10 ) ( 1.28 ) = 87.8
10

4. To etch an aluminum tray successfully, the pH of the acid solution used must
be between 1 and 4. This acid solution is made by mixing a fixed quantity of
 etching compound in powder form with a given volume of water. The actual
pH of the solution obtained by this method is affected y the potency of the
etching compound, by slight variations in the volume of water used, and
perhaps by the pH of the water, Thus, the pH of the solution varies. Assume
that the random variable that describes the random phenomenon is gamma
distributed with alpha =2 and beta=1

p H level of the acid, X ~ Gamma ( a = 2, b = 1)

1
f ( x) = e - x x, 0 < x < �
G ( 2)
To etch an aluminum tray successfully, the pH of the acid solution used must
be between 1 and 4.
The probability that a randomly selected aluminum tray successfully etched is,
4
P ( 1 �X �4 ) = �
f ( x ) dx
0
4
1
=� e - x x dx
0
G ( 2)
= 2e -1 - 5e -4 [ Integration by Maple]
= 0.6442

5. A cement mixing company had facilities for only a limited amount of storage
space for the sand it sues in making read-mix cement. The demand for sand
varies from day to day. Suppose that the random variable that characterizes
 the problem follows gamma distribution with alpha=2 and beta=3. If the
storage space holds only 6000 tons of sand, what is the probability that on
any given day the company will not run out of sand?

Demand of the sand, X ~ Gamma ( a = 2, b = 3)

3-2 - x 3
f ( x) = e x, 0 < x < �
G ( 2)
The storage space holds only 6000 tons of sand.
The probability that on any given day the company will not run out of sand is,
6000
P ( X �6000 ) = �f ( x ) dx
0
6000
3-2 - x 3
= �
0
G ( 2)
e x dx

= 1 - 2001e -2000 [ Integration by Maple]

�1.000

6. The amount of lamb meat in hundreds of pounds that a certain

slaughterhouse is able to sell in a day is found to be numerically valued
random phenomenon described by the function:
f(x)= cx , 0<=x<2
c(10-x) , 2<=x<=7
a. Find c so that f(x) will be a pdf

b. What is the probability that the amount of lamb sold the day before
Easter will be between 150 and 550 pounds?

�cx , 0 �x < 2
f ( x) = �
�c ( 10 - x ) , 2 �x �7
a. Find c so that f ( x ) will be a pdf.
Since f ( x ) is a pdf, we have the property,
�

�f ( x ) dx = 1
-�
2 7

� c ( 10 - x ) dx = 1
cxdx + �
0 2

� 2 7
�
c� � xdx + � ( 10 - x ) dx �= 1
�0 2 �
�59 �
c � �= 1 [ Integration by Maple]
�2 �
2
�c =
59
b. The probability that the amount of lamb sold the day before Easter will
be between 150 and 550 pounds,
5.5
P ( 1.5 �X �5.5 ) = �f ( x ) dx
1.5

2 � �
2 5.5
= �� x dx + ( 10 - x ) dx �
�
59 �1.5 2 �
= 0.7712 [ Integration by Maple]