QUANTITATIVE METHODS
PROBLEM SET ONLY FOR SELF PRACTICE
1. A problem in mathematics is given to five students A, B, C, D and E. Their chances of solving it
are 1/2, 1/3, 1/3, 1/4 and 1/5 respectively. Find the probability that the problem will (a) not
be solved (b) be solved
2. A market analyst believes that the stock market has a 0.70 probability of going up in the next
year if the economy should do well, and a 0.20 probability of going up if the economy should
not do well during the year. The analyst believes that there is a 0.80 probability that the
economy will do well in the coming year. What is the probability that stock market will go up
next year?
3. An Economist believes that during periods of high economic growth, the Indian Rupee
appreciates with probability 0.70; in periods of moderate economic growth, it appreciates with
probability 0.40; and during periods of low economic growth, the Rupee appreciates with
probability 0.20.During any period of time the probability of high economic growth is 0.30; the
probability of moderate economic growth is 0.50 and the probability of low economic growth is
0.20. Suppose the Rupee value has been appreciating during the present period. What is the
probability that we are experiencing the period of (a) high, (b) moderate, and (c) low,
economic growth? [BAYES THEOREM]
4. Assuming the probability of male birth as ½, find the probability distribution of number of boys
out of 5 births.
(a) Find the probability that a family of 5 children have (i) at least one boy (ii) at most 3
boys (b) Out of 960 families with 5 children each find the expected number of families with (i)
and (ii) above
5. At a parking place the average number of car-arrivals during a specified period of 15 minutes is
2. If the arrival process is well described by a Poisson process, find the probability that during
a given period of 15 minutes
a. no car will arrive
b. at least two cars will arrive
c. at most three cars will arrive
d. between 1 and 3 cars will arrive
6. A cost accountant needs to forecast the unit cost of a product for the next year. He notes that
each unit of the product requires 10 labor hours and 5 kg of raw material. In addition, each
unit of the product is assigned an overhead cost of Rs 200. He estimates that the cost of a
labor hour next year will be normally distributed with an expected value of Rs 45 and a
standard deviation of Rs 2; the cost of raw material will be normally distributed with an
expected value of Rs 60 and a standard deviation of Rs 3. Find the distribution of the unit cost
of the product. Find its expected value and variance.
7. Find the probability that the value of the standard normal random variable will be… (a)
between 0 and 1.74 (b) less than -1.47 (c) between 1.3 and 2 (d) between -1 and 2
8. The weekly wage of 2000 workmen is normally distribution with mean wage of Rs 70 and wage
standard deviation of Rs 5. Estimate the number of workers whose weekly wages are (a)
between Rs 70 and Rs 71 (b) between Rs 69 and Rs 73 (c) more than Rs 72 (d) less than Rs
65
9. Monthly sale of beer at a bar is believed to be approximately normally distributed with mean
2450 units and standard 400 units. To determine the level of orders and stock, the
management wants to find two values symmetrically on either side of mean, such that the
probability that sales of beer during the month will be between the two values is (a) 0.95 (b)
0.99 Find the required values.
