UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

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BSc. ENGINEERING/SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS: 2022/2023
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES
FAEN 302: STATISTICS FOR ENGINEERS (3 CREDITS)
INSTRUCTIONS:
ANSWER QUESTION 1 AND ANY OTHER THREE
EACH QUESTION CARRIES 25 MARKS
YOU MAY DO ALL ROUGH WORKS IN THE ANSWER BOOKLET
COMPLEX FORMULAE AND TABLES ARE PROVIDED IN THE APPENDIX
TIME ALLOWED: THREE (3) HOURS

Q1. Apply your knowledge

a) A random variable Y has a probability distribution shown below and the expectation
of Y is 3.8.

y 1 3 5 7
P(Y=y) a 3b 2a b

i. Find a and b. [4
MARKS]
ii. Calculate Var(Y). [3
MARKS]

b) R is a discrete random variable with the probability distribution:

r -2 3
P(R=r) a 1-a

i. Show that Var(R) = 25a(1 – a) [3

MARKS]
ii. Given that E(R) = 2, find the standard deviation of R. [3
MARKS]

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 1 of 9

 c) The value of cars parked in a car park has an unknown distribution. Would you be
able to use the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) to decide whether the mean value of a
sample of cars is normally distributed for a sample of
i. 10 cars [1½
MARKS]
ii. 50 cars? [1½
MARKS]
d) The results of an examination can be modelled by a normal distribution with mean 68
and standard deviation 15. Only 16 % of the students failed the exam. Find the pass
mark. [3
MARKS]

e) The expectation and standard deviation often need to be considered together to be

able to make decisions about data sets. Suppose that you are the owner of a taxi
company and you have received an urgent call from a passenger who would like to be
collected from the house and taken to the airport. The passenger needs to be at the
airport in 30 minutes or she will miss her flight. You have three taxis in the area that
you could assign to this job and, from their previous airport journeys, you know that
their means and standard deviations are as follows:

Antonio’s taxi: μ = 31 mins σ = 5 mins

Barney’s taxi: μ = 29 mins σ = 2 mins
Chloe’s taxi: μ = 27 mins σ = 7 mins

How might this data be used to allocate a taxi for the job? Rank the taxis in order of
preference and give reasons for your choices. [6
MARKS]

Q2.
a) Engineers make certain components for aeroplanes. A certain aeronautics
engineering company believes that the time taken to make a particular type of
component may be modelled by a normal distribution with a mean of 90 minutes
and a standard deviation of three minutes. Assuming the company’s beliefs to be
true, find the probability that the time taken to make one of these components,
selected at random, was:
i. over 95 minutes [3
MARKS]
ii. under 87 minutes [3
MARKS]
iii. between 87 and 95 minutes [3
MARKS]

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 2 of 9

 iv. Stan believes that the company is allowing too long for the job and times
himself manufacturing the component. He finds that only 10 % of the
components take him over 85 minutes, and that 20 % take him less than 65
minutes. Estimate Stan’s mean and standard deviation. [6
MARKS]

b) The life span of scientific calculators have a normal distribution with a mean of 58
months and a standard deviation of 10 months. A company that manufactures
scientific calculators gives a warranty of 36 months to replace any defective
calculator with a new one. Suppose the company makes 1 million calculators per
year, how many calculators may be replaced? [6
MARKS]

c) A random variable X is normally distributed with mean 40 and standard deviation

σ. Random samples of 10 observations of X are taken. It is found that the
probability of the mean of these observations being greater than 42 is 0.1.
Calculate σ.

[4 MARKS]

Q3.
a) A continuous random variable X has the following probability density function
(pdf):

1
(x + 1) -1 < x < 1
2
f(x) =
0 elsewhere.

i. Find the upper quartile of X [3

MARKS]
ii. Find the 64th percentile of X [2
MARKS]
iii. Find the cdf F(x) of X [2
MARKS]
iv. Find P(-1< X < 0) using the cdf [2
MARKS]

b) The length of time, T, in hours, that a candle burns can be modelled as a

continuous random variable with the following probability density function:

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 3 of 9

 1 34
(1.75 – t2) + if 1.5 ≤ t ≤ 2,
5 15

f(t) = 0 otherwise.

i. Calculate the mean length of time, in hours, the candle burns. [2

MARKS]
ii. A restaurant manager purchased one hundred candles for an evening
function. How many candles will burn for less than 100 minutes?
[4 MARKS]

c) The Royal Beverage Bottling Company has designed a machine that fills cola cans
so that the contents are uniformly distributed with a minimum of 11.8 ml and a
maximum of 12.2 ml. If one can is randomly selected, find the probability that the
amount of cola is
i. at least 12.0 ml [2 MARKS]
ii. between 11.9 ml and 12.1 ml [2
MARKS]

d) All manufacturing devices and machines fail to work sooner or later. Suppose that
the failure rate is constant and the time to failure (in hours) is an exponential r.v.
X with parameter λ.

i. Measurements show that the probability that the time to failure for
computer memory chips in a given class exceeds 10 4 hours is e-1 (≈ 0.368).
Calculate the value of the parameter λ.
[3 MARKS]

ii. Using the value of the parameter λ determined in part (i), calculate the
time x0 such that the probability that the time to failure is less than x 0 is
0.05.
[3 MARKS]

Q4.
a) The voters in a large city are 40 % white, 40 % black, and 20 % Hispanic. A black
mayoral candidate anticipates attracting 30 % of the white vote, 90 % of the black
vote, and 50 % of the Hispanic vote.
i. Draw a tree diagram with probabilities for the race (white, black, or
Hispanic) and vote (for or against the candidate) of a randomly chosen
voter.
[3 MARKS]
ii. What percent of the overall votes does the candidate expect to get?
[2 MARKS]

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 4 of 9

 iii. What percent of the overall yes voters are blacks? [2
MARKS]

b) The Clemson University Fact Book for 2007 shows that 123 of the university’s
338 assistant professors were women, along with 76 of the 263 associate
professors and 73 of the 375 full professors.
i. Construct a tree diagram from the data given; [3
MARKS]
ii. Use the tree diagram to calculate the probability that a randomly chosen
Clemson professor is a woman; [2
MARKS]
iii. What percent of women who are Clemson academics are full professors
according to the Fact Book for 2007? [2
MARKS]

c) Two boxes containing marbles are placed on a table. The boxes are labeled B1
and B2. Box B1 contains 7 green marbles and 4 white marbles. Box B2 contains 3
green marbles and 10 yellow marbles. The boxes are arranged so that the
probability of selecting box B1 is 1/3 and the probability of selecting box B2 is
2/3. Kathy is blindfolded and asked to select a marble. She will win a color TV if
she selects a green marble.

i. What is the probability that Kathy will win the TV (that is, she will select a
green marble)? [2
MARKS]
ii. If Kathy wins the color TV, what is the probability that the green marble
was selected from the first box? [2
MARKS]

d) All tractors made by a company are produced on one of three assembly lines,
named Red, White, and Blue. The chances that a tractor will not start when it rolls
off of a line are 6%, 11%, and 8% for lines Red, White, and Blue, respectively.
48% of the company’s tractors are made on the Red line and 31% are made on the
Blue line.

i. What fraction of the company’s tractors do not start when they roll off of
an assembly line? [2
MARKS]
ii. What is the probability that the part came from the Red assembly line,
given that the tractor will not start? [2
MARKS]
iii. What is the probability that the part came from the White assembly line,
given that the tractor will start? [3
MARKS]

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 5 of 9

Q5.

a) A doctor has a choice of seven small but different bandages, six medium but
different bandages, and five large but different bandages. She chooses five
bandages, and her choice includes at least one of each size. How many different
selections could she have made? [4
MARKS]

b) A philosophy student has 12 book with either Plato, or Socrates or Aristotle or

Herodotus in the title: 5 with Plato, 4 with Socrates, 2 with Aristotle, and 1 with
Herodotus. She arranges these 12 books at random on a shelf. How many different
arrangements are possible if

i. the books with each particular philosopher in the title must all stand
together. [2
MARKS]
ii. only the books with Plato in the title must be in the first position on the
shelf whilst the others must also always be together but not in the first
position.
[3 MARKS]
iii. all the other titles can be arranged anyhow except the books with Socrates
in the title. [3
MARKS]

c) A red die is rolled with result R and a green die is rolled with result G. Let RG be
the random variable indicating the product of the numbers that appear.
i. List the sample space for all the possible outcomes. [2
MARKS]
ii. Use this to find P(RG is a square number). [2
MARKS]
iii. Find P(RG is even given that it is a square). [2
MARKS]
iv. Find P(RG is odd given that it is a square). [2
MARKS]
v. Calculate the expectation and variance of this distribution. [5
MARKS]

Q6.
a) A scientist is looking at the number of limpets (a type of shellfish that clings to
rocks) on a beach. He finds that there are on average 3 limpets in every 25 cm 2
area. Assuming that the number of limpets in a 25 cm 2 area follow a Poisson
distribution,
EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 6 of 9
 i. find the probability of there being exactly 5 limpets in a randomly
chosen 25 cm2 area. [1
MARK]
ii. find the probability of there being at least 1 limpet in a randomly
chosen 25 cm2 area.
[2 MARKS]
iii. find the probability there are at least 2 limpets in a randomly chosen
50 cm2 area. [4
MARKS]

b) A die is loaded in such a way that the probability of the face with j dots turning
up is proportional to j for j = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. In 6 independent throws of this die,
what is the probability that a six turns up exactly twice? [5
MARKS]

c) Suppose that a die is biased (or loaded) so that 3 appears twice as often as each
other number but that the other five outcomes are equally likely. What is the
probability that an odd number appears when we roll this die? [3
MARKS]

d) Suppose there are 3 defective items in a lot of 50 items. A sample of size 10 is

taken at random and without replacement. Let X denote the number of defective
items in the sample.

i. Find the probability of exactly 3 defectives in the sample, [2

MARKS]
ii. Find the probability that there are at most 2 defectives in the sample
[3 MARKS]

e) A lake contains 600 fish, eighty (80) of which have been tagged by scientists. A
researcher randomly catches 15 fish from the lake.
i. Find a formula for the probability mass function (pmf) of X, the number
of fish in the researcher's sample which are tagged. [2
MARKS]
ii. Find the probability that at least 2 tagged fish is caught by the researcher.
[3 MARKS]

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 7 of 9

 APPENDIX
FORMULAS AND TABLES

n ∑ xy−( ∑ x )(∑ y )
√ ∑ x 2)−( ∑ x )2 √n (∑ y 2)−( ∑ y )2
r = n(

( ∑ y )(∑ x2 )−( ∑ x)( ∑ xy )

b0 = n( ∑ x 2 )−( ∑ x)2

n( ∑ xy )−( ∑ x )( ∑ y)
b1 = n( ∑ x 2 )−( ∑ x )2

−b ± √ b2−4 ac
The quadratic formula: x=
2a
The mean of a continuous distribution with pdf ƒx(x) is given by
∞
∫x
μ=E(x) = −∞ ƒx(x)dx
The variance of a continuous distribution with pdf ƒ(x) is given by

OR

The mean or expected value of a discrete random variable with pmf p(x) is

The variance for a discrete distribution with pmf p(x) is given by

OR
Var(X) = ∑ x 2
p (x)−μ
2

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 8 of 9

EXAMINER: P. OKAE, PHD Page 9 of 9