OCR MEI S1 2012 January — Question 5

Exam BoardOCR MEI
ModuleS1 (Statistics 1)
Year2012
SessionJanuary
TopicDiscrete Probability Distributions
TypeConstruct distribution then calculate probability

5 A couple plan to have at least one child of each sex, after which they will have no more children. However, if they have four children of one sex, they will have no more children. You should assume that each child is equally likely to be of either sex, and that the sexes of the children are independent. The random variable \(X\) represents the total number of girls the couple have.
  1. Show that \(\mathrm { P } ( X = 1 ) = \frac { 11 } { 16 }\). The table shows the probability distribution of \(X\).
    \(r\)01234
    \(\mathrm { P } ( X = r )\)\(\frac { 1 } { 16 }\)\(\frac { 11 } { 16 }\)\(\frac { 1 } { 8 }\)\(\frac { 1 } { 16 }\)\(\frac { 1 } { 16 }\)
  2. Find \(\mathrm { E } ( X )\) and \(\operatorname { Var } ( X )\).