Module 4: Practice Problems
August 2, 2025
Q1 Delta Airlines quotes a flight time of 2 hours, 5 minutes for its flight from
Cincinnati to Tampa. Suppose we believe that actual flight times are uniformly
distributed between 2 hours and 2 hours, 20 minutes.
(a) What is the probability that the flight will be no more than 5 minutes
late?
(b) What is the probability that the flight will be more than 10 minutes late?
(c) What is the expected flight time?
Q2 Most computer languages include a function that can be used to generate
random numbers. In Excel, the RAND function can be used to generate random
numbers between 0 and 1. If we let X denote a random number generated using
RAND, then X is a continuous random variable with the following probability
density function
1, if 0 ≤ x ≤ 1
fX (x) =
0, otherwise.
(a) What is the probability of generating a random number between 0.25 and
0.75?
(b) What is the probability of generating a random number with a value less
than or equal to 0.30?
(c) What is the probability of generating a random number with a value
greater than or equal to 0.60?
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(d) Compute the mean and standard deviation.
Q3 A weather forecaster predicts that the May rainfall in a local area will be
uniformly distributed over the interval three to six inches.
(a) Write the probability density function and the cumulative density func-
tion.
(b) What is the probability that the May rainfall will be at least four inches?
At least five inches?
Q4 The average return for the large-cap domestic stock funds over the three years
2009-2011 was 14.4%. Assume the three-year returns were normally distributed
across funds with a standard deviation of 4.4%.
(a) What is the probability an individual large-cap domestic stock fund had
a three-year return of at least 20%?
(b) What is the probability an individual large-cap domestic stock fund had
a three-year return of 10% or less?
Q5 The time needed to complete a final examination in a particular college course
is normally distributed with a mean of 80 minutes and a standard deviation of
10 minutes.
(a) What is the probability of completing the exam in one hour or less?
(b) What is the probability that a student will complete the exam in more
than 60 minutes but less than 75 minutes?
(c) Assume that the class has 60 students and that the examination period
is 90 minutes in length. How many students do you expect will be unable
to complete the exam in the allotted time?
Q6 Two students take a college entrance exam known to have a normal distribution
of scores. The students receive raw scores of 63 and 93, which correspond to
z scores of -1 and 1.5, respectively. Find the mean and standard deviation of
the distribution of raw exam scores.
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Q7 The time between arrivals of vehicles at a particular intersection follows an
exponential distribution with a mean of 12 seconds.
(a) Write the probability density function and the cumulative distribution
function.
(b) What is the probability that the arrival time between vehicles is 12 seconds
or less?
(c) What is the probability of 30 or more seconds between the vehicles?
Q8 The Boston Fire Department receives 911 calls at a mean rate of 1.6 calls
per hour. Suppose the number of calls per hour follows a Poisson probability
distribution.
(a) What is the mean time between 911 calls to the Boston Fire Department
in minutes?
(b) Using the mean in part (a), find the probability density function for the
time between 911 calls in minutes.
(c) What is the probability that there will be more than 5 minutes, but less
than 20 minutes between 911 calls?
Q9 The time (in minutes) between telephone calls at an insurance claims office has
the following distribution
fX (x) = 0.50e−0.50x , for x ≥ 0
(a) What is the mean time between the telephone calls?
(b) What is the probability of having 30 seconds or less between the telephone
calls?
