Edexcel S2 2001 June — Question 7

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleS2 (Statistics 2)
Year2001
SessionJune
TopicContinuous Uniform Random Variables
TypeWaiting time applications

7. In a computer game, a star moves across the screen, with constant speed, taking 1 s to travel from one side to the other. The player can stop the star by pressing a key. The object of the game is to stop the star in the middle of the screen by pressing the key exactly 0.5 s after the star first appears. Given that the player actually presses the key \(T\) s after the star first appears, a simple model of the game assumes that \(T\) is a continuous uniform random variable defined over the interval \([ 0,1 ]\).
  1. Write down \(\mathrm { P } ( \mathrm { T } < 0.2 )\).
  2. Write down E(T).
  3. Use integration to find \(\operatorname { Var } ( T )\). A group of 20 children each play this game once.
  4. Find the probability that no more than 4 children stop the star in less than 0.2 s . The children are allowed to practise.this game so that this continuous uniform model is no longer applicable.
  5. Explain how you would expect the mean and variance of T to change. It is found that a more appropriate model of the game when played by experienced players assumes that \(T\) has a probability density function \(\mathrm { g } ( t )\) given by $$g ( t ) = \begin{cases} 4 t , & 0 \leq t \leq 0.5
    4 - 4 t , & 0.5 \leq t \leq 1 ,
    0 , & \text { otherwise } . \end{cases}$$
  6. Using this model show that \(\mathrm { P } ( T < 0.2 ) = 0.08\). A group of 75 experienced players each played this game once.
  7. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that more than 7 of them stop the star in less than 0.2 s .
    (4) END