OCR S4 2012 June — Question 4

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleS4 (Statistics 4)
Year2012
SessionJune
TopicProbability Generating Functions
TypeDerive standard distribution PGF

4 The random variable \(U\) has the distribution \(\operatorname { Geo } ( p )\).
  1. Show, from the definition, that the probability generating function ( pgf ) of \(U\) is given by $$G _ { U } ( t ) = \frac { p t } { 1 - q t } , \text { for } | t | < \frac { 1 } { q } ,$$ where \(q = 1 - p\).
  2. Explain why the condition \(| t | < \frac { 1 } { q }\) is necessary.
  3. Use the pgf to obtain \(\mathrm { E } ( U )\). Each packet of Corn Crisp cereal contains a voucher and \(20 \%\) of the vouchers have a gold star. When 4 gold stars have been collected a gift can be claimed. Let \(X\) denote the number of packets bought by a family up to and including the one from which the \(4 ^ { \text {th } }\) gold star is obtained.
  4. Obtain the pgf of \(X\).
  5. Find \(\mathrm { P } ( X = 6 )\).