5.02l Poisson conditions: for modelling

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OCR Further Statistics Specimen Q5
8 marks Moderate -0.8
5 The number of goals scored by the home team in a randomly chosen hockey match is denoted by \(X\).
  1. In order for \(X\) to be modelled by a Poisson distribution it is assumed that goals scored are random events. State two other conditions needed for \(X\) to be modelled by a Poisson distribution in this context. Assume now that \(X\) can be modelled by the distribution \(\operatorname { Po } ( 1.9 )\).
  2. (a) Write down an expression for \(\mathrm { P } ( X = r )\).
    (b) Hence find \(\mathrm { P } ( X = 3 )\).
  3. Assume also that the number of goals scored by the away team in a randomly chosen hockey match has an independent Poisson distribution with mean \(\lambda\) between 1.31 and 1.32. Find an estimate for the probability that more than 3 goals are scored altogether in a randomly chosen match.
Edexcel S2 2014 January Q5
12 marks Standard +0.8
5. A school photocopier breaks down randomly at a rate of 15 times per year.
  1. Find the probability that there will be exactly 3 breakdowns in the next month.
  2. Show that the probability that there will be at least 2 breakdowns in the next month is 0.355 to 3 decimal places.
  3. Find the probability of at least 2 breakdowns in each of the next 4 months. The teachers would like a new photocopier. The head teacher agrees to monitor the situation for the next 12 months. The head teacher decides he will buy a new photocopier if there is more than 1 month when the photocopier has at least 2 breakdowns.
  4. Find the probability that the head teacher will buy a new photocopier.
Edexcel S2 2015 January Q1
16 marks Standard +0.8
  1. The number of cars caught speeding per day, by a particular camera, has a Poisson distribution with mean 0.8
    1. Find the probability that in a given 4 day period exactly 3 cars will be caught speeding by this camera.
    A car has been caught speeding by this camera.
  2. Find the probability that the period of time that elapses before the next car is caught speeding by this camera is less than 48 hours. Given that 4 cars were caught speeding by this camera in a two day period,
  3. find the probability that 1 was caught on the first day and 3 were caught on the second day. Each car that is caught speeding by this camera is fined \(\pounds 60\)
  4. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that, in 90 days, the total amount of fines issued will be more than \(\pounds 5000\)
Edexcel S2 2017 January Q3
16 marks Standard +0.3
3. (a) State the condition under which the normal distribution may be used as an approximation to the Poisson distribution. The number of reported first aid incidents per week at an airport terminal has a Poisson distribution with mean 3.5
(b) Find the modal number of reported first aid incidents in a randomly selected week. Justify your answer. The random variable \(X\) represents the number of reported first aid incidents at this airport terminal in the next 2 weeks.
(c) Find \(\mathrm { P } ( X > 5 )\) (d) Given that there were exactly 6 reported first aid incidents in a 2 week period, find the probability that exactly 4 were reported in the first week.
(e) Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that in the next 40 weeks there will be at least 120 reported first aid incidents.
Edexcel S2 2017 January Q5
14 marks Standard +0.8
  1. In the manufacture of cloth in a factory, defects occur randomly in the production process at a rate of 2 per \(5 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\)
The quality control manager randomly selects 12 pieces of cloth each of area \(15 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\).
  1. Find the probability that exactly half of these 12 pieces of cloth will contain at most 7 defects. The factory introduces a new procedure to manufacture the cloth. After the introduction of this new procedure, the manager takes a random sample of \(25 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) of cloth from the next batch produced to test if there has been any change in the rate of defects.
    1. Write down suitable hypotheses for this test.
    2. Describe a suitable test statistic that the manager should use.
    3. Explain what is meant by the critical region for this test.
  2. Using a 5\% level of significance, find the critical region for this test. You should choose the largest critical region for which the probability in each tail is less than 2.5\%
  3. Find the actual significance level for this test.
Edexcel S2 2018 January Q4
11 marks Standard +0.3
4. A sweet shop produces different coloured sweets and sells them in bags. The proportion of green sweets produced is \(p\) Each bag is filled with a random sample of \(n\) sweets. The mean number of green sweets in a bag is 4.2 and the variance is 3.57
  1. Find the value of \(n\) and the value of \(p\) The proportion of red sweets produced by the shop is 0.35
  2. Find the probability that, in a random sample of 25 sweets, the number of red sweets exceeds the expected number of red sweets. The shop claims that \(10 \%\) of its customers buy more than two bags of sweets. A random sample of 40 customers is taken and 1 customer buys more than two bags of sweets.
  3. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the proportion of customers who buy more than two bags of sweets is less than the shop's claim. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2019 January Q2
12 marks Standard +0.3
  1. During morning hours, employees arrive randomly at an office drinks dispenser at a rate of 2 every 10 minutes.
The number of employees arriving at the drinks dispenser is assumed to follow a Poisson distribution.
  1. Find the probability that fewer than 5 employees arrive at the drinks dispenser during a 10-minute period one morning. During a 30 -minute period one morning, the probability that \(n\) employees arrive at the drinks dispenser is the same as the probability that \(n + 1\) employees arrive at the drinks dispenser.
  2. Find the value of \(n\) During a 45-minute period one morning, the probability that between \(c\) and 12, inclusive, employees arrive at the drinks dispenser is 0.8546
  3. Find the value of \(C\)
  4. Find the probability that exactly 2 employees arrive at the drinks dispenser in exactly 4 of the 6 non-overlapping 10-minute intervals between 10 am and 11am one morning.
Edexcel S2 2019 January Q6
12 marks Moderate -0.3
  1. (i) (a) State the conditions under which the Poisson distribution may be used as an approximation to the binomial distribution.
A factory produces tyres for bicycles and \(0.25 \%\) of the tyres produced are defective. A company orders 3000 tyres from the factory.
(b) Find, using a Poisson approximation, the probability that there are more than 7 defective tyres in the company's order.
(ii) At the company \(40 \%\) of employees are known to cycle to work. A random sample of 150 employees is taken. The random variable \(C\) represents the number of employees in the sample who cycle to work.
(a) Describe a suitable sampling frame that can be used to take this sample.
(b) Explain what you understand by the sampling distribution of \(C\) Louis uses a normal approximation to calculate the probability that at most \(\alpha\) employees in the sample cycle to work. He forgets to use a continuity correction and obtains the incorrect probability 0.0668 Find, showing all stages of your working,
(c) the value of \(\alpha\) (d) the correct probability.
Edexcel S2 2021 January Q3
17 marks Standard +0.3
3. The number of water fleas, in 100 ml of pond water, has a Poisson distribution with mean 7
  1. Find the probability that a sample of 100 ml of the pond water does not contain exactly 4 water fleas. Aja collects 5 separate samples, each of 100 ml , of the pond water.
  2. Find the probability that exactly 1 of these samples contains exactly 4 water fleas. Using a normal approximation, the probability that more than 3 water fleas will be found in a random sample of \(n \mathrm { ml }\) of the pond water is 0.9394 correct to 4 significant figures.
    1. Show that \(n - 1.55 \sqrt { \frac { n } { 0.07 } } - 50 = 0\)
    2. Hence find the value of \(n\) After the pond has been cleaned, the number of water fleas in a 100 ml random sample of the pond water is 15
  3. Using a suitable test, at the \(1 \%\) level of significance, assess whether or not there is evidence that the number of water fleas per 100 ml of the pond water has increased. State your hypotheses clearly. \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{f63c39df-cfc9-4a6b-838d-67613710b0ce-11_2255_50_314_34}
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Edexcel S2 2022 January Q1
11 marks Standard +0.3
1 A local pottery makes cups. The number of faulty cups made by the pottery in a week follows a Poisson distribution with a mean of 6 In a randomly chosen week, the probability that there will be at least \(x\) faulty cups made is 0.1528
  1. Find the value of \(x\)
  2. Use a normal approximation to find the probability that in 6 randomly chosen weeks the total number of faulty cups made is fewer than 32 A week is called a "poor week" if at least \(x\) faulty cups are made, where \(x\) is the value found in part (a).
  3. Find the probability that in 50 randomly chosen weeks, more than 1 is a "poor week".
Edexcel S2 2022 January Q3
9 marks Standard +0.3
3 A photocopier in a school is known to break down at random at a mean rate of 8 times per week.
  1. Give a reason why a Poisson distribution could be used to model the number of breakdowns. The headteacher of the school replaces the photocopier with a refurbished one and wants to find out if the rate of breakdowns has increased or decreased.
  2. Write down suitable null and alternative hypotheses that the headteacher should use. The refurbished photocopier was monitored for the first week after it was installed.
  3. Using a \(5 \%\) level of significance, find the critical region to test whether the rate of breakdowns has now changed.
  4. Find the actual significance level of a test based on the critical region from part (c). During the first week after it was installed there were 4 breakdowns.
  5. Comment on this finding in the light of the critical region found in part (c).
Edexcel S2 2015 June Q2
15 marks Standard +0.3
2. A company produces chocolate chip biscuits. The number of chocolate chips per biscuit has a Poisson distribution with mean 8
  1. Find the probability that one of these biscuits, selected at random, does not contain 8 chocolate chips. A small packet contains 4 of these biscuits, selected at random.
  2. Find the probability that each biscuit in the packet contains at least 8 chocolate chips. A large packet contains 9 of these biscuits, selected at random.
  3. Use a suitable approximation to find the probability that there are more than 75 chocolate chips in the packet. A shop sells packets of biscuits, randomly, at a rate of 1.5 packets per hour. Following an advertising campaign, 11 packets are sold in 4 hours.
  4. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the rate of sales of packets of biscuits has increased. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2016 June Q1
11 marks Standard +0.3
  1. During a typical day, a school website receives visits randomly at a rate of 9 per hour.
The probability that the school website receives fewer than \(v\) visits in a randomly selected one hour period is less than 0.75
  1. Find the largest possible value of \(v\)
  2. Find the probability that in a randomly selected one hour period, the school website receives at least 4 but at most 11 visits.
  3. Find the probability that in a randomly selected 10 minute period, the school website receives more than 1 visit.
  4. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that in a randomly selected 8 hour period the school website receives more than 80 visits.
Edexcel S2 2016 June Q2
10 marks Standard +0.3
2. The random variable \(X \sim \mathrm {~B} ( 10 , p )\)
    1. Write down an expression for \(\mathrm { P } ( X = 3 )\) in terms of \(p\)
    2. Find the value of \(p\) such that \(\mathrm { P } ( X = 3 )\) is 16 times the value of \(\mathrm { P } ( X = 7 )\) The random variable \(Y \sim \operatorname { Po } ( \lambda )\)
  1. Find the value of \(\lambda\) such that \(\mathrm { P } ( Y = 3 )\) is 5 times the value of \(\mathrm { P } ( Y = 5 )\) The random variable \(W \sim \mathrm {~B} ( n , 0.4 )\)
  2. Find the value of \(n\) and the value of \(\alpha\) such that \(W\) can be approximated by the normal distribution, \(\mathrm { N } ( 32 , \alpha )\)
Edexcel S2 2017 June Q1
11 marks Standard +0.3
  1. At a particular junction on a train line, signal failures are known to occur randomly at a rate of 1 every 4 days.
    1. Find the probability that there are no signal failures on a randomly selected day.
    2. Find the probability that there is at least 1 signal failure on each of the next 3 days.
    3. Find the probability that in a randomly selected 7 -day week, there are exactly 5 days with no signal failures.
    Repair works are carried out on the line. After these repair works, the number, \(f\), of signal failures in a 32-day period is recorded. A test is carried out, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, to determine whether or not there has been a decrease in the rate of signal failures following the repair works.
  2. State the hypotheses for this test.
  3. Find the largest value of \(f\) for which the null hypothesis should be rejected.
Edexcel S2 2017 June Q4
13 marks Challenging +1.2
4. In a large population, past records show that 1 in 200 adults has a particular allergy. In a random sample of 700 adults selected from the population, estimate
    1. the mean number of adults with the allergy,
    2. the standard deviation of the number of adults with the allergy. Give your answer to 3 decimal places. A doctor claims that the past records are out of date and the proportion of adults with the allergy is higher than the records indicate. A random sample of 500 adults is taken from the population and 5 are found to have the allergy. A test of the doctor's claim is to be carried out at the 5\% level of significance.
    1. State the hypotheses for this test.
    2. Using a suitable approximation, carry out the test.
      (6) It is also claimed that \(30 \%\) of those with the allergy take medication for it daily. To test this claim, a random sample of \(n\) people with the allergy is taken. The random variable \(Y\) represents the number of people in the sample who take medication for the allergy daily. A two-tailed test, at the \(1 \%\) level of significance, is carried out to see if the proportion differs from 30\% The critical region for the test is \(Y = 0\) or \(Y \geqslant w\)
  1. Find the smallest possible value of \(n\) and the corresponding value of \(w\)
Edexcel S2 2018 June Q2
12 marks Standard +0.3
2. John weaves cloth by hand. Emma believes that faults are randomly distributed in John's cloth at a rate of more than 4 per 50 metres of cloth. To check her belief, Emma takes a random sample of 100 metres of the cloth and finds that it contains 14 faults.
  1. Stating your hypotheses clearly, test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, Emma's belief. Armani also weaves cloth by hand. He knows that faults are randomly distributed in his cloth at a rate of 4 per 50 metres of cloth. Emma decides to buy a large amount of Armani's cloth to sell in pieces of length \(l\) metres. She chooses \(l\) so that the probability of no faults in a piece is exactly 0.9
  2. Show that \(l = 1.3\) to 2 significant figures. Emma sells 5000 of these pieces of cloth of length 1.3 metres. She makes a profit of \(\pounds 2.50\) on each piece of cloth that does not contain any faults but a loss of \(\pounds 0.50\) on any piece that contains at least one fault.
  3. Find Emma's expected profit.
Edexcel S2 2018 June Q5
13 marks Standard +0.8
5. Cars stop at a service station randomly at a rate of 3 every 5 minutes.
  1. Calculate the probability that in a randomly selected 10 minute period,
    1. exactly 7 cars will stop at the service station,
    2. more than 7 cars will stop at the service station. Using a normal approximation, the probability that more than 40 cars will stop at the service station during a randomly selected \(n\) minute period is 0.2266 correct to 4 significant figures.
  2. Find the value of \(n\).
Edexcel S2 2021 June Q2
15 marks Standard +0.3
  1. Luis makes and sells rugs. He knows that faults occur randomly in his rugs at a rate of 3 every \(4 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\)
    1. Find the probability of there being exactly 5 faults in one of his rugs that is \(4 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) in size.
    2. Find the probability that there are more than 5 faults in one of his rugs that is \(6 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) in size.
    Luis makes a rug that is \(4 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) in size and finds it has exactly 5 faults in it.
  2. Write down the probability that the next rug that Luis makes, which is \(4 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) in size, will have exactly 5 faults. Give a reason for your answer. A small rug has dimensions 80 cm by 150 cm . Faults still occur randomly at a rate of 3 every \(4 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) Luis makes a profit of \(\pounds 80\) on each small rug he sells that contains no faults but a profit of \(\pounds 60\) on any small rug he sells that contains faults. Luis sells \(n\) small rugs and expects to make a profit of at least \(\pounds 4000\)
  3. Calculate the minimum value of \(n\) Luis wishes to increase the productivity of his business and employs Rhiannon. Faults also occur randomly in Rhiannon's rugs and independently to faults made by Luis. Luis randomly selects 10 small rugs made by Rhiannon and finds 13 faults.
  4. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence to support the suggestion that the rate at which faults occur is higher for Rhiannon than for Luis. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2022 June Q5
10 marks Challenging +1.2
  1. The number of particles per millilitre in a solution is modelled by a Poisson distribution with mean 0.15
A randomly selected 50 millilitre sample of the solution is taken.
  1. Find the probability that
    1. exactly 10 particles are found,
    2. between 6 and 11 particles (inclusive) are found. Petra takes 12 independent samples of \(m\) millilitres of the solution.
      The probability that at least 2 of these samples contain no particles is 0.1184
  2. Using the Statistical Tables provided, find the value of \(m\)
Edexcel S2 2023 June Q7
12 marks Challenging +1.2
  1. A bakery sells muffins individually at an average rate of 8 muffins per hour.
    1. Find the probability that, in a randomly selected one-hour period, the bakery sells at least 4 but not more than 8 muffins.
    A sample of 5 non-overlapping half-hour periods is selected at random.
  2. Find the probability that the bakery sells fewer than 3 muffins in exactly 2 of these periods. Given that 4 muffins were sold in a one-hour period,
  3. find the probability that more muffins were sold in the first 15 minutes than in the last 45 minutes.
Edexcel S2 2024 June Q1
13 marks Standard +0.3
1 A garage sells tyres. The number of customers arriving at the garage to buy tyres in a 10-minute period is modelled by a Poisson distribution with mean 2
  1. Find the probability that
    1. fewer than 4 customers arrive to buy tyres in the next 10 minutes,
    2. more than 5 customers arrive to buy tyres in the next 10 minutes. The manager randomly selects 20 non-overlapping, 30-minute periods.
  2. Find the probability that there are between 4 and 7 (inclusive) customers arriving to buy tyres in exactly 15 of these 30-minute periods. The manager believes that placing an advert in the local paper will lead to a significant increase in the number of customers arriving at the garage.
    A week after the advert is placed, the manager randomly selects a 25 -minute period and finds that 10 customers arrive at the garage to buy tyres.
  3. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence to support the manager's belief.
    State your hypotheses clearly.
  4. Explain why the Poisson distribution is unlikely to be valid for the number of tyres sold during a 10-minute period.
Edexcel S2 2020 October Q4
16 marks Moderate -0.8
4. In a peat bog, Common Spotted-orchids occur at a mean rate of 4.5 per \(\mathrm { m } ^ { 2 }\)
  1. Give an assumption, not already stated, that is required for the number of Common Spotted-orchids per \(\mathrm { m } ^ { 2 }\) of the peat bog to follow a Poisson distribution.
    (1) Given that the number of Common Spotted-orchids in \(1 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) of the peat bog can be modelled by a Poisson distribution,
  2. find the probability that in a randomly selected \(1 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) of the peat bog
    1. there are exactly 6 Common Spotted-orchids,
    2. there are fewer than 10 but more than 4 Common Spotted-orchids.
      (4) Juan believes that by introducing a new management scheme the number of Common Spotted-orchids in the peat bog will increase. After three years under the new management scheme, a randomly selected \(2 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) of the peat bog contains 11 Common Spotted-orchids.
  3. Using a \(5 \%\) significance level assess Juan's belief. State your hypotheses clearly. Assuming that in the peat bog, Common Spotted-orchids still occur at a mean rate of 4.5 per \(\mathrm { m } ^ { 2 }\)
  4. use a normal approximation to find the probability that in a randomly selected \(20 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) of the peat bog there are fewer than 70 Common Spotted-orchids. Following a period of dry weather, the probability that there are fewer than 70 Common Spotted-orchids in a randomly selected \(20 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) of the peat bog is 0.012 A random sample of 200 non-overlapping \(20 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) areas of the peat bog is taken.
  5. Using a suitable approximation, calculate the probability that at most 1 of these areas contains fewer than 70 Common Spotted-orchids. \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{3a781851-e2cc-4379-8b8c-abb3060a6019-15_2255_50_314_34}
Edexcel S2 2021 October Q4
15 marks Challenging +1.2
  1. The number of cars entering a safari park per 10 -minute period can be modelled by a Poisson distribution with mean 6
    1. Find the probability that in a given 10 -minute period exactly 8 cars will enter the safari park.
    2. Find the smallest value of \(n\) such that the probability that at least \(n\) cars enter the safari park in 10 minutes is less than 0.05
    The probability that no cars enter the safari park in \(m\) minutes, where \(m\) is an integer, is less than 0.05
  2. Find the smallest value of \(m\) A car enters the safari park.
  3. Find the probability that there is less than 5 minutes before the next car enters the safari park. Given that exactly 15 cars entered the safari park in a 30-minute period,
  4. find the probability that exactly 1 car entered the safari park in the first 5 minutes of the 30-minute period. Aston claims that the mean number of cars entering the safari park per 10-minute period is more than 6 He selects a 15-minute period at random in order to test whether there is evidence to support his claim.
  5. Determine the critical region for the test at the \(5 \%\) level of significance.
Edexcel S2 2022 October Q1
11 marks Standard +0.3
  1. Bhavna produces rolls of cloth. She knows that faults occur randomly in her cloth at a mean rate of 1.5 every 15 metres.
    1. Find the probability that in 15 metres of her cloth there are
      1. less than 3 faults,
      2. at least 6 faults.
    Each roll contains 100 metres of Bhavna's cloth.
    She selects 15 rolls at random.
  2. Find the probability that exactly 10 of these rolls each have fewer than 13 faults. Bhavna decides to sell her cloth in pieces.
    Each piece of her cloth is 4 metres long.
    The cost to make each piece is \(\pounds 5.00\) She sells each piece of her cloth that contains no faults for \(\pounds 7.40\) She sells each piece of her cloth that contains faults for \(\pounds 2.00\)
  3. Find the expected profit that Bhavna will make on each piece of her cloth that she sells.