Reading and Comprehension Questions for Chapter 4

1. Continuous random variables take on discrete values.

True False

False see Section 4-1.

2. The probability density function of a continuous random variable is a simple

description of the probabilities associated with the random variable.

True False

True see Section 4-2.

3. The sum of all of the probabilities associated with each specific value of a continuous
random variable equals unity.

True False

False see Section 4-2.

4. The cumulative distribution function of a continuous random variable is the probability

that the random variable X is greater than or equal to x, where x is a specific value of the
continuous random variable X.

True False

False see Section 4-3.

5. A cumulative distribution function can be used to find the probability density function
of a discrete random variable.

True False

True see Section 4-3.

6. The mean of a continuous random variable is its expected value.

True False

True see Section 4-4.

7. The standard deviation of a continuous random variable is its expected value.

True False

False see Section 4-4.

(x )
2 2
f ( x )dx
8. The variance of a discrete random variable is defined as .

True False

True see Section 4-4.

9. The variance of a continuous random variable can be written as either

2 ( x ) f ( x)dx 2 x f ( x)dx 2
2 2

or .

True False

True see Section 4-4.

10. If X is a continuous uniform random variable defined over the range 10 to 20, the
mean of X is:

a. 12
b. 15
c. 16
d. None of the above

Answer is b; see Equations 4-7.

11. The normal distribution has two parameters; the mean , and the variance 2.

True False

True see Section 4-6.

12. The standard normal distribution has both mean and variance equal to unity.

True False

False see Section 4-6.

13. If X is a normal random variable that has mean = 20 and standard deviation = 2,
the standardized value of X = 16 is

a. 4
b. -2
c. 2
d. -4
e. None of the above

Answer is b; see Equation 4-10

14. To standardize a normal random variable that has mean and variance 2 we used the
X
Z
formula 2 .

True False

False see Equation 4-10.

15. The normal distribution can be used to approximate the binomial distribution if np
and n(1-p) are greater than five.

True False

True see Section 4-7.

17. The exponential random variable models the distance between successive events in a
Poisson process.

True False

True see Section 4-8.

18. In the exponential distribution with parameter , the mean and variance are both equal
to .

True False

False see Equation 4-15.

19. The exponential distribution has a lack of memory property.

True False

True see Section 4-8.

20. The Erlang and exponential distributions are special cases of the gamma distribution.

True False

True see section 4-9.

21. The Weibull distribution is often used to model the time to failure in reliability
engineering work.

True False

True see Section 4-10.

22. A random variable that is the natural logarithm of a normal random variable is called
a lognormal random variable.

True False

True - see Section 4-11.