Sub: Statistics Topic: Probability

Question:
A large urn contains a collection of balls, 1/3 numbered 0, 1/3 numbered 2, and 1/3 numbered
4.

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An experiment consists of selecting a ball, noting its number, putting the ball back, selecting
another, and noting its number. There are 9 distinct ordered pairs of numbers that can be
obtained. Namely (0,0), (0,2), (2,2), (2,4), (4,0), (4,2), and (4,4). For example, (2,4) means a 2
was selected first, followed by a 4, Note that x = 3 for the pair (2,4).

(a) Obtain the probability distribution of x.

(b) Obtain U slash/x and O 2/X

Let x = number of the ball obtained on any selection. Then the probability distribution for x is
given by

X p(x)

0 1/3
2 1/3
4 1/3
(c) For this distribution, find (I) u, and (ii) O2 (2nd power). Compare with part (b), and note that
u (slash over x)= u and O 2/n, where n = 2 is the sample size.

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Sub: Statistics Topic: Probability

Solution:

A large urn contains a collection of balls and each ball differs according to the number displayed
on it. The three numbers that are displayed on the balls are 0, 2 and 4. Since two balls are
selecting one after another with replacement, we have 9 distinct ordered pairs of numbers that
can be obtained. The 9 distinct ordered pairs are given below:

(0, 0), (0, 2), (0, 4), (2, 0), (2, 2), (2, 4), (4, 0), (4, 2), (4, 4)

PAIR (X) ( 0, 0 ) ( 0, 2 ) ( 0, 4 ) (2, 0 ) (2, 2 ) (2, 4 ) ( 4, 0 ) ( 4, 2 ) ( 4, 4 )

(0+0)/2 (0+2)/2 (0+4)/2 (2+0)/2 (2+2)/2 (2+4)/2 (4+0)/2 (4+2)/2 (4+4)/2
X =0 =1 =2 =1 =2 =3 =2 =3 =4

(a) Probability distribution of X :

From the above table, the distribution of the sample mean X is given as follows:

X 0 1 2 3 4 Total

P[ X ] 1/9 2/9 3/9 2/9 1/9 1

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Sub: Statistics Topic: Probability

X P[ X ] P[ X ] X *P[ X ] ( X )^2 ( X )^2 * P[ X ]

0 1/9 0.1111 0 0 0

1 2/9 0.2222 0.2222 1 0.2222

2 3/9 0.3333 0.6667 4 1.3333

3 2/9 0.2222 0.6667 9 2.0000

4 1/9 0.1111 0.4444 16 1.7778

1 1.0000 2 5.3333

MEAN = 2

VAR = 1.3333

S.D. = 1.1547

(b) Mean of X : E( X ) = X i P( X i ) = 2
i

Variance of X : 2
= xi2 P( xi ) xi P( xi )
i i

= 5.333 – (2*2)

= 1.333

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Sub: Statistics Topic: Probability

(c) Let x = number of the ball obtained on any selection. Then the probability distribution for x is
given by

X p(x)
_______
0 1/3
2 1/3
4 1/3

For the above distribution the mean and variance can be calculated as follows:

X P[x] X*P[X] X^2 X^2 * P[x]

0 0.3333 0 0 0

2 0.3333 0.6667 4 1.3333

4 0.3333 1.3333 16 5.3333

1 2 6.6667

MEAN = 2

VAR = 2.667

S.D. = 1.632993

Mean: E(x) = xi P ( xi ) = 2
i

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 Sub: Statistics Topic: Probability

2
2 2
Variance: = x P( xi )
i xi P( xi ) = 6.667 – (2*2) = 2.667
i i

Comparing the above mean and standard with that of part (b):

In part (b): (with sample of size n = 2)

Mean of X = X
=2

2
Variance of X : X
= 1.333

In part (c): (for the given population distribution)

Mean: µ = 2
2
Variance: = 2.667

By comparing the above two results, we can see that the mean of the sampling distribution is
2
the mean of the population and the standard deviation of the sampling distribution is /n =
2.667 / 2 = 1.333

That is, X
=µ=2

2 2
X
= / n = 1.333

** End of the Solution **

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