STAT/MA 416000

ASSIGNMENT 4
DUE DATE: OCTOBER 3RD

(1) Suppose that X and Y have joint P.M.F. pX,Y (x, y) = (1/2)x (2/3)y for
positive integers x, y such that 1 ≤ y ≤ x.
• Verify that this is a legitimate joint P.M.F. Namely, pX,Y (x, y) is non-
negative and sums to 1.
• Find the marginal P.M.F. of X.
• Find the marginal P.M.F. of Y .
(2) A student rolls a die until the first “4” appears. Let X be the numbers of
rolls required until (and including) this first “4”. After this is completed,
he begins rolling again until he gets a “3”. Let Y be the number of rolls,
after the first “4”, up to (and including) the next “3”. For example, if the
sequence of rolls is 213662341261613, then X = 8 and Y = 7. Find the
expectations for X and Y .
(3) Chris tries to throw a ball of paper in the wastebasket behind his back
(without looking). He estimates that his chance of success each time, re-
gardless of the outcome of the other attempts, is 1/3. Let X be the number
of attempts required. If he is not successful within the first 5 attempts, then
he quits, and he lets X = 6 in such a case. Find E[X].
(4) Suppose Alice takes 3 cookies (without replacement) from a cookie jar that
contains 5 cookies, 3 of which are chocolate, and the other 2 are non-
chocolate. Let X be the number of chocolate cookies she gets. Find E[X].
(5) Keeping the set-up in the previous question (Question 4), find Var(X).
(6) At a restaurant that sells appetizers:
• 8% of the appetizers cost $1 each;
• 20% of the appetizers cost $2 each;
• 32% of the appetizers cost $3 each;
• 40% of the appetizers cost $4 each.
An appetizer is chosen at random, and X is its price. Each appetizer has
7% sales tax. So Y = 1.07X is the amount paid on the bill (in dollars).
Find the variance of Y .
(7) Suppose that a person wins a game of chance with probability 0.40, and
loses otherwise. If he wins, he earns 5 dollars, and if he loses, then he loses
4 dollars. Assume that he plays ten games independently. Let X denote
the number of games that he wins. Answer the following questions.
• What is his expected gain or loss (altogether) during the ten games?
• What is the variance of his gain or loss (altogether) during the ten
games?
• What is the probability that he wins $32 or more during the ten games?
(8) Andy rolls a dice until the eighth occurrence of “1”, and then he stops. Let
X denote the number of rolls until (and including) that eighth occurrence

Date: September 20, 2017.

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of “1”; let Y denote the number of rolls not equal to “1” that occur strictly
before (but not including) that eighth “1”. Find the expectations and
variances for both X and Y .
(9) At a certain hot dog stand, during the working day, the number of people
who arrive to eat is Poisson, with an average of 1 person every 2 minutes.
• What is the probability that exactly 3 people arrive during the next
10 minutes?
• What is the probability that nobody arrives during the next 10 min-
utes?
(10) Suppose that, on average, 3 telemarketers call your house during a 7-day
period. What is the probability that no telemarketer call your house on
a given day? Assume that the number of telemarketers per day follows
Poisson distribution.
(11) Suppose that, during a given week, 5, 000, 000 people play a lottery game.
If their chances to win the lottery are independent, and if each person has
probably 1/2, 000, 000 of winning the lottery, write an exact expression for
the probability that there are exactly 4 winners of the lottery that week.
Moreover, give an approximate value for the probability that there are
exactly 4 winners.
(12) Suppose that X is a Poisson random variable with E[X] = λ. Find
E[X(X − 1)(X − 2)].