MA 385 - Introduction to Probability - Fall 2003

Homework Assignments and Important Dates 

Date and Time of Last Update to This Page: 09/27/10 03:06 PM


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Important Dates:

Bonus Homework Problem:  Show that the expected value of the sample variance is the variance of the distribution from which you are sampling.  Click here for a pdf file with a more formal statement of this problem.  Due on Tuesday, Dec. 2 by noon. 

Quiz 10 (The Last One!):  Take Home Homework Assignment:  Section 6.2 Problem 8, Section 6.3 Problem 4, Section, and Section 6.4 Problem 4.  Due on Tuesday, December 2 by noon. 

Quiz 9:  Take Home Homework Assignment:  Section 5.1, Problems 5.1-5 and 5.1-11.  On problem 5.1-11 also find P(X<=2Y).   Due beginning of class on Monday, Nov. 17.

Quiz 8:  In class quiz covers sections 4.1, 4.2, and 4.4, Monday, November 10, beginning of class.  Note:  Changed to take-home, due beginning of class on Wed. Nov. 12.

Quiz 7:  Take Home Homework Assignment:  Section 4.4 Problems 10 (Hint: In addition to the hint given in the book, see the proof of Theorem 4.4-1) and 20.  Due Monday, November 10 beginning of class.  Note new due date!

Quiz 6:  Take Home Homework Assignment:  Section 4.2 Problems 1 and 5.  Due Wednesday, November,  beginning of class.  Note new due date!

Test 1:   Wednesday, October 1, Covers Sections 1.1, 1.2, and Chapter 2.

Test 2:   Wednesday, November 19.  It will cover Sections 3.1-3.5, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, and 5.1.

Final Exam:  Friday, December 12, 2003, 3:00 - 5:30 p.m.  The Final Exam will be comprehensive.  Sections covered will include:  1.1, 1.2, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 5.1, 6.1-6.4, 7.1, 7.2

In class I will be handing out a sheet of Probability Drill Problems from which I will also assign homework problems.  Please see me if you do not get a copy of these problems.  I will also ask you to play with some of the applets in the Virtual Laboratories in Probability and Statistics.   Please see me if you do not get a copy of these problems.  Once I have finished covering a section in class you will be responsible for the homework problems assigned from that section.  If it takes more than two class periods to cover a particular section then you should start working on the homework from that section after the first lecture on that section.

 

Assignments

 
Section of Textbook Homework Assignments with Notes
Section 1.1:  Basic Concepts Section 1.1 Problems:  1-9 odd.  On problem 9 create the theoretical distribution of X (the number of heads in the two tosses) like we did in class.  Then actually toss two coins and get an empirical distribution (Note:  50 tosses instead of 100 should suffice).  You could also try problem number 9 using the Virtual Labs Binomial Coin Experiment Applet.
Section 1.2:  The Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation Section 1.2 Problems:  1 a,c,d (plot your mean and an interval that is +- one standard deviation from the mean on the histograms you generated in Section 1.1), 3, 5 (a little tricky so use the hint!), 6, (since this is a small data set try using your graphing calculator - answers:  sample mean = 4/3 and sample variance = 264/207), 7 (you may want to use Minitab and/or Excell and the CD in the back of your book to work this problem).  Check out the Cool Prob/Stats link page for sites that show you how to use your graphing calculator to compute descriptive statistics
Section 2.1:  Properties of Probability

Section 1.2 Problems:  1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9(a), 10, 11, 13, 15, 17.

Probability Drill Problems:  2.6-2.12

Check out the Virtual Labs Venn Diagram Applet!

Section 2.2:  Methods of Enumeration

Section 2.2 Problems:  1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20.  Combinatorial form for the answers for the poker hands in problem 15: The notation (x,y) will stand for the combination "x choose y". Four of a kind: (13,1)(4,4)(48,1)/(52,5); Full House: (13,1)(4,3)(12,1)(4,2)/(52,5); Three of a Kind: (13,1)(4,3)(12,2)(4,1)(4,1)/(52,5); Two Pairs: (13,2)(4,2)(4,2)(44,1)/(52,5);  One Pair - hmmmm......see if YOU can do it!  Now for the fun of it, see if you can determine the probability of a straight, a straight flush and a royal flush!

Probability Drill Problems:  2.13-2.24

Section 2.3: Conditional Probability

Section 2.3 Problems:  1-11 odd, 15, 17, 18 (Note:  The answer to #9 is 1/5) 

Probability Drill Problems: 2.25-2.43 (Note:  Some of these problems involve the concept of independence which will be covered in Section 2.4)

Section 2.4:  Independent Events

Section 2.4 Problems:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17

Probability Drill Problems:  Finish problems 2.25-2.43

Section 2.5:  Bayes' Theorem

Section 2.5 Problems:  1-7

Probability Drill Problems:  2.44- 2.48

Section 3.1:  Random Variables of the Discrete Type

Section 3.1 Problems:  1-11 odd

Check out the Virtual Labs Ball and Urn Experiment to see graphs of the Hypergeometric Distribution for various values of the parameters.

Section 3.2:  Mathematical Expectation Section 3.2 Problems:  1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23 (Note:  See Appendix A for the answer to number 23).
Section 3.3:  Bernoulli Trials and the Binomial Distribution

Section 3.3 Problems:  1 - 17 odd, 18

Check out the Virtual Labs Binomial Coin Experiment to see graphs of the Binomial Distribution for various values of the parameters.

Section 3.4:  The Moment-Generating Function Section 3.4 Problems:  1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21 
Section 3.5:  The Poisson Distribution

Section 3.5 Problems:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17 (Note:  Use the disk provided with your book and an appropriate software program (Minitab, Excel, etc.) for the computations in problems 11, 13, and 17.)

Check out the Virtual Labs Poisson Experiment to see graphs of the Poisson Distribution for various values of the parameters.

Section 4.1:  Continuous Distributions

Section 4.1 Problems:  1 - 9 odd, 10, 11 - 17, 19

Hand In as Quiz (see above):  12, 14

Section 4.2:  The Uniform and Exponential Distributions

Section 4.2 Problems:  1 - 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 19

Hand In as Quiz (see above):  1, 5

Section 4.4:  The Normal Distribution

Section 4.4 Problems:  1 - 9 odd, 13 (use technology), 17

Hand In as Quiz (see above):  10, 20

Section 4.3:  The Gamma and Chi-Square Distributions. Section 4.3 Problems:  1, 4, 5
Section 5.1:  Distributions of Two Random Variables Section 5.1 Problems:  1 - 11 odd (Note problems 5 and 11 are hand-in problems for Quiz 9 (also see the extra work for problem 11 above)).
Section 6.1:  Independent Random Variables  Section 6.1 Problems:  1, 5, 9, 14
Section 6.2:  Distributions of Sums of Random Variables Section 6.2 Problems:  1 (Determine mean and variance only, you do not need to find the p.m.f. (but you are welcome to do so if you want :-)), 5, 7, 8, 9.   Please note your hand-in assignment above!
Section 6.3:  Random Functions Associated with Normal Distributions Section 6.3 Problems:  1, 3, 4, 7(a), 9(a,b)
Section 6.4:  The Central Limit Theorem Section 6.4 Problems:  1, 3, 4, 7, 9
Section 7.2:  Confidence Intervals for Means Section 7.2 Problems:  1 - 15 odd
Section 7.5:  Confidence Intervals for Proportions Section 7.5 Problems:   1 (a,b), 3 - 11 odd
Section 7.6:  Sample Size Section 7.6 Problems:  7, 9, 11, 14

 


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