CAIE S1 2008 June — Question 6

Exam BoardCAIE
ModuleS1 (Statistics 1)
Year2008
SessionJune
TopicTree Diagrams
TypeProbability distribution from tree

6 Every day Eduardo tries to phone his friend. Every time he phones there is a \(50 \%\) chance that his friend will answer. If his friend answers, Eduardo does not phone again on that day. If his friend does not answer, Eduardo tries again in a few minutes' time. If his friend has not answered after 4 attempts, Eduardo does not try again on that day.
  1. Draw a tree diagram to illustrate this situation.
  2. Let \(X\) be the number of unanswered phone calls made by Eduardo on a day. Copy and complete the table showing the probability distribution of \(X\).
    \(x\)01234
    \(\mathrm { P } ( X = x )\)\(\frac { 1 } { 4 }\)
  3. Calculate the expected number of unanswered phone calls on a day.