OCR S2 2015 June — Question 3

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleS2 (Statistics 2)
Year2015
SessionJune
TopicContinuous Probability Distributions and Random Variables
TypeFind parameter from probability condition

3 A continuous random variable \(X\) has probability density function $$f ( x ) = \left\{ \begin{array} { c l } \frac { 3 } { 2 a ^ { 3 } } x ^ { 2 } & - a \leqslant x \leqslant a
0 & \text { otherwise } \end{array} \right.$$ where \(a\) is a constant.
  1. It is given that \(\mathrm { P } ( - 3 \leqslant X \leqslant 3 ) = 0.125\). Find the value of \(a\) in this case.
  2. It is given instead that \(\operatorname { Var } ( X ) = 1.35\). Find the value of \(a\) in this case.
  3. Explain the relationship between \(x\) and \(X\) in this question.