| Exam Board | OCR MEI |
|---|---|
| Module | D2 (Decision Mathematics 2) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Session | June |
| Marks | 16 |
| Paper | Download PDF ↗ |
| Mark scheme | Download PDF ↗ |
| Topic | Modelling and Hypothesis Testing |
| Type | Marketing and operational strategy decisions |
| Difficulty | Standard +0.8 This is a multi-stage decision tree problem requiring calculation of EMVs, conditional probabilities from a table, and comparison of strategies with and without perfect information. While the individual calculations are straightforward, the problem requires careful organization across two parts, understanding of how forecasts update probabilities, and multiple decision nodes. It's more complex than standard A-level questions but uses only basic probability and expected value concepts. |
| Spec | 5.01a Permutations and combinations: evaluate probabilities5.01b Selection/arrangement: probability problems |
| \backslashbox{Forecast}{Actual} | good | moderate | poor | windy | proportion of forecasts |
| good | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| not good | 0.15 | 0.25 | 0.35 | 0.25 | 0.4 |
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
| Decision node at root | B1 | decision node |
| Chance node with 4 possibilities | M1, A1 | chance node, 4 possibilities |
| Costs (90, 60, 30, 0) shown; EMV = 257 at Italia node | M1, A1 | costs (90, 60, 30, 0 OK); cao 257 |
| Buy international and pass. | B1 |
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
| New decision node added | B1 | new decision node |
| "do not consult" branch shown | B1 | "do not consult" branch |
| "consult" chance node shown | B1 | "consult" chance node |
| EMV at chance node calculated (cao) | B1 | EMV at chance node cao |
| EMV = 269 at "good" decision node (cao) | B1 | EMV at "good" decision node cao |
| 269 at chance node (cao) | B1 | 269 at chance node cao |
| EMV at "not good" decision node (cao) | B1 | EMV "not good" decision node cao |
| 239 at "not good" chance node (cao) | B1 | 239 at chance node cao |
| Consult | B1 | |
| Buy international if "good" and Italian if "not good" | B1 |
## Question 2:
### Part (i)
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|--------|-------|----------|
| Decision node at root | B1 | decision node |
| Chance node with 4 possibilities | M1, A1 | chance node, 4 possibilities |
| Costs (90, 60, 30, 0) shown; EMV = 257 at Italia node | M1, A1 | costs (90, 60, 30, 0 OK); cao 257 |
| Buy international and pass. | B1 | |
**Total: [6]**
### Part (ii)
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|--------|-------|----------|
| New decision node added | B1 | new decision node |
| "do not consult" branch shown | B1 | "do not consult" branch |
| "consult" chance node shown | B1 | "consult" chance node |
| EMV at chance node calculated (cao) | B1 | EMV at chance node cao |
| EMV = 269 at "good" decision node (cao) | B1 | EMV at "good" decision node cao |
| 269 at chance node (cao) | B1 | 269 at chance node cao |
| EMV at "not good" decision node (cao) | B1 | EMV "not good" decision node cao |
| 239 at "not good" chance node (cao) | B1 | 239 at chance node cao |
| Consult | B1 | |
| Buy international if "good" and Italian if "not good" | B1 | |
**Total: [10]**
---
2 Graham skis each year in an Italian resort which shares a ski area with a Swiss resort. He can buy an Italian lift pass, or an international lift pass which gives him access to Switzerland as well as to Italy. For his 6-day holiday the Italian pass costs $€ 200$ and the international pass costs $€ 250$. If he buys an Italian pass then he can still visit Switzerland by purchasing day supplements at $€ 30$ per day.
If the weather is good during his holiday, then Graham visits Switzerland three times. If the weather is moderate he goes twice. If poor he goes once. If the weather is windy then the lifts are closed, and he is not able to go at all.
In his years of skiing at the resort he has had good weather on $30 \%$ of his visits, moderate weather on $40 \%$, poor weather on $20 \%$ and windy weather on $10 \%$ of his visits.\\
(i) Draw a decision tree to help Graham decide whether to buy an Italian lift pass or an international lift pass. Give the action he should take to minimize the EMV of his costs.
When he arrives at the resort, and before he buys his lift pass, he finds that he has internet access to a local weather forecast, and to records of the past performance of the forecast. The 6-day forecast is limited to "good"/"not good", and the records show the actual weather proportions following those forecasts. It also shows that $60 \%$ of historical forecasts have been "good" and $40 \%$ "not good".
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|l|l|l|}
\hline
\backslashbox{Forecast}{Actual} & good & moderate & poor & windy & proportion of forecasts \\
\hline
good & 0.4 & 0.5 & 0.1 & 0.0 & 0.6 \\
\hline
not good & 0.15 & 0.25 & 0.35 & 0.25 & 0.4 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
(ii) Draw a decision tree to help Graham decide the worth of consulting the forecast before buying his lift pass. Give the actions he should take to minimize the EMV of his costs.
\hfill \mbox{\textit{OCR MEI D2 2013 Q2 [16]}}