SPS SPS SM Statistics 2026 January — Question 4

Exam BoardSPS
ModuleSPS SM Statistics (SPS SM Statistics)
Year2026
SessionJanuary
TopicBinomial Distribution
TypeBasic E(X) and Var(X) calculation

4. Patrick is practising his skateboarding skills. On each day, he has 30 attempts at performing a difficult trick. Every time he attempts the trick, there is a probability of 0.2 that he will fall off his skateboard.
Assume that the number of times he falls off on any given day may be modelled by a binomial distribution.
    1. Find the mean number of times he falls off in a day.
  1. (ii) Find the variance of the number of times he falls off in a day.
    1. Find the probability that, on a particular day, he falls off exactly 10 times.
  2. (ii) Find the probability that, on a particular day, he falls off 5 or more times.
  3. Patrick has 30 attempts to perform the trick on each of 5 consecutive days.
    1. Calculate the probability that he will fall off his skateboard at least 5 times on each of the 5 days.
  4. (ii) Explain why it may be unrealistic to use the same value of 0.2 for the probability of falling off for all 5 days.