OCR Further Statistics AS 2022 June — Question 5

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleFurther Statistics AS (Further Statistics AS)
Year2022
SessionJune
TopicPoisson Distribution
TypeMean-variance comparison for Poisson validation

5 The manager of an emergency response hotline believes that calls are made to the hotline independently and at constant average rate throughout the day. From a small random sample of the population, the manager finds that the mean number of calls made in a 1-hour period is 14.4. Let \(R\) denote the number of calls made in a randomly chosen 1-hour period.
  1. Using evidence from the small sample, state a suitable distribution with which to model \(R\). You should give the value(s) of any parameter(s).
  2. In this part of the question, use the distribution and value(s) of the parameter(s) from your answer to part (a).
    1. Find \(\mathrm { P } ( R > 20 )\).
    2. Given that \(\mathrm { P } ( \mathrm { R } = \mathrm { r } ) > \mathrm { P } ( \mathrm { R } = \mathrm { r } + 1 )\), show algebraically that \(r > 13.4\).
    3. Hence write down the mode of the distribution. The manager also finds, from records over many years, that the modal value of \(R\) is 10 .
  3. Use this result to comment on the validity of the distribution used in part (b).
  4. Assume now that the type of distribution used in part (b) is valid. Find the range(s) of values of the parameter(s) of this distribution that would correspond to the modal value of \(R\) being 10.