MAT121 Practice Exercises

Discrete Random Variables: Binomial and Poisson Distributions

Instr. C. Peng

Please show your work before checking the answer and explanations. The exam questions will be similar to these exercise problems.


Problem 1.   A biased coin has a 70% chance of landing heads. If X = 1 for heads and X = 0 for tails, what is P(X = 0)?


a) 0.3
b) 0.7
c) 0.49
d) 0.21


View Answer



Problem 2.     Given a Bernoulli distribution with p = 0.6, what are its mean (μ) and variance (σ²)?


a) μ=0.6, σ²=0.24
b) μ=0.6, σ²=0.4
c) μ=0.4, σ²=0.24
d) μ=0.4, σ²=0.6


View Answer



Problem 3.   Which of the following is a Bernoulli trial?


a) Rolling a die and recording the outcome
b) Flipping a coin once and recording heads/tails
c) Drawing a card from a deck
d) Measuring the height of a person


View Answer



Problem 4.   The probability mass function for a Binomial(n,p) distribution using factorial notation is:


a) P(X=k) = [n!/(k!(n-k)!)] * p^k * (1-p)^(n-k)
b) P(X=k) = [n!/(k!(n-k)!)] * p^(n-k) * (1-p)^k
c) P(X=k) = p^k * (1-p)^(n-k)
d) P(X=k) = (λ^k * e^(-λ))/k!


View Answer



Problem 5.   A student guesses on a 10-question true/false quiz (p=0.5). What is P(exactly 8 correct)?


a) 0.0439
b) 0.1209
c) 0.0440
d) 0.0107


View Answer



Problem 6.   In 20 independent trials with success probability 0.3, what is the expected number of successes?


a) 6
b) 10
c) 4.2
d) 14


View Answer



Problem 7.   For a Binomial(15, 0.4) distribution, the variance is:


a) 6
b) 3.6
c) 9
d) 2.4


View Answer



Problem 8.   Which scenario is NOT well-modeled by a binomial distribution?


a) Number of defective items in a batch of 50
b) Number of heads in 100 coin flips
c) Number of emails you receive in an hour
d) Number of correct answers on a multiple-choice test (guessing)


View Answer



Problem 9.   If X ~ Binomial(n=5, p=0.2), what is P(X ≤ 2) expressed using the binomial PMF?


a) Σ[k=0 to 2] [5!/(k!(5-k)!)] * (0.2)^k * (0.8)^(5-k)
b) 1 - [5!/(3!2!)](0.2)^3(0.8)^2
c) [5!/(2!3!)] * (0.2)^2 * (0.8)^3
d) 1 - Σ[k=3 to 5] [5!/(k!(5-k)!)] * (0.2)^k * (0.8)^(5-k)


View Answer



Problem 10.   The probability mass function for Poisson(λ) is:


a) P(X=k) = (λ^k * e^(-λ))/k!
b) P(X=k) = [n!/(k!(n-k)!)] * p^k * (1-p)^(n-k)
c) P(X=k) = p*(1-p)^(k-1)
d) P(X=k) = e^(-λ) * λ^k


View Answer



Problem 11.  Accidents occur at an intersection at an average rate of 2 per month. What is P(exactly 3 accidents in a month)?


a) (e^(-2) * 2^3)/3!
b) (e^(-3) * 3^2)/2!
c) C(2,3) * (1/3)^3 * (2/3)^(-1)
d) 2^3/3!


View Answer



Problem 12.   If X follows Poisson distribution with mean 4.5, what is its variance?


a) 4.5
b) 2.25
c) 20.25
d) 9


View Answer



Problem 13.   The Poisson distribution is often used to approximate the Binomial distribution when:


a) n is large and p is close to 0.5
b) n is small and p is large
c) n is large and p is small
d) n is small and p is small


View Answer



Problem 14.   If calls arrive at a rate of 1.5 per minute, what is P(no calls in a minute)?


a) e^(-1.5)
b) 1 - e^(-1.5)
c) 1.5 * e^(-1.5)
d) 0


View Answer



Problem 15.   For X ~ Binomial(n=10, p=0.5), what is the approximate 75th percentile? Given: P(X≤6) = Σ[k=0 to 6] [10!/(k!(10-k)!)](0.5)^k(0.5)^(10-k) ≈ 0.828


a) 6
b) 7
c) 8
d) 5


View Answer



Problem 16.   Which distribution has variance equal to mean?


a) Binomial only
b) Poisson only
c) Both Binomial and Poisson
d) Bernoulli only


View Answer



Problem 17.   If X ~ Poisson(λ=3), find the smallest k such that P(X ≤ k) ≥ 0.9. Given: P(X≤4)≈0.815, P(X≤5)≈0.916.


a) 4
b) 5
c) 6
d) 3


View Answer