EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
Earn 100

A fair 4 -sided spinner with sides labelled A, A, B, B is spun four times.

Show that there are six equally likely ways to obtain exactly two Bs with the four spins.

Important Questions on Probability Distributions

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

A fair 4 -sided spinner with sides labelled A, A, B, B is spun four times.

By drawing up the probability distribution table for X, the number of times the spinner comes to rest on B, find the value of VarXEX.

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

A fair 4 -sided spinner with sides labelled A, B, B, B is spun four times.

What, in the context of this question, does the value found in part b represent?

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

Find the mean and the variance of the discrete random variable X, whose probability distribution is given in the following table.

x 1. 2 3 4
PX=x 1-k 2-3k 3-4k 4-6k

 

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

The following table shows the probability distribution for the random variable Y.

y 1 10 q 101
P(Y=y) 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2

Given that Var Y=1385.2, show that q2-61q+624=0 and solve this equation.

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

The following table shows the probability distribution for the random variable Y.

y 1 10 q 101
P(Y=y) 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2

Find the greatest possible value of EY if the VarY=1385.2.

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

An investment company has produced the following table, which shows the probabilities of various percentage profits on money invested over a period of 3 years.

Profit % 1 5 10 15 20 30 40 45 50
Probability 0.05 0.10 0.50 0.20 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01

Calculate the expected profit on an investment of $50000.

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT

An investment company has produced the following table, which shows the probabilities of various percentage profits on money invested over a period of 3 years.

Profit % 1 5 10 15 20 30 40 45 50
Probability 0.05 0.10 0.50 0.20 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01

A woman considers investing $50000 with the company, but decides that her money is likely to earn more when invested over the same period in a savings account that pays r% compound interest per annum. Calculate, correct to 2 decimal places, the least possible value of r.

EASY
AS and A Level
IMPORTANT
A chef wishes to decorate each of four cupcakes with one randomly selected sweet. They choose the sweets at random from eight toffees, three chocolates and one jelly. Find the variance of the number of cupcakes that will be decorated with a chocolate sweet.