Explain or apply conditions in context

3 A website owner finds that, on average, his website receives 0.3 hits per minute. He believes that the number of hits per minute follows a Poisson distribution.

1. Assume that the owner is correct.
   1. Find the probability that there will be at least 4 hits during a 10-minute period.
   2. Use a suitable approximating distribution to find the probability that there will be fewer than 40 hits during a 3-hour period.
      A friend agrees that the website receives, on average, 0.3 hits per minute. However, she notices that the number of hits during the day-time ( 9.00 am to 9.00 pm ) is usually about twice the number of hits during the night-time ( 9.00 pm to 9.00 am ).
2. 1. Explain why this fact contradicts the owner's belief that the number of hits per minute follows a Poisson distribution.
   2. Specify separate Poisson distributions that might be suitable models for the number of hits during the day-time and during the night-time.

2 A class investigated the number of dead rabbits found along a particular stretch of road.

1. The class agrees that dead rabbits occur randomly along the road. Explain what this statement means.
2. State, in this context, an assumption needed for the number of dead rabbits in a fixed length of road to be modelled by a Poisson distribution, and explain what your statement means. Assume now that the number of dead rabbits in a fixed length of road can be well modelled by a Poisson distribution with mean 1 per 600 m of road.
3. Use an appropriate formula, showing your working, to find the probability that in a road of length 1650 m there are exactly 3 dead rabbits.

6 The number of randomly occurring events in a given time interval is denoted by \(R\). In order that \(R\) is well modelled by a Poisson distribution, it is necessary that events occur independently.

1. Let \(R\) represent the number of customers dining at a restaurant on a randomly chosen weekday lunchtime. Explain what the condition 'events occur independently' means in this context, and give a reason why it would probably not hold in this context. Let \(D\) represent the number of tables booked at the restaurant on a randomly chosen day. Assume that \(D\) can be well modelled by distribution \(\operatorname { Po } ( 7 )\).
2. Find \(\mathrm { P } ( D < 5 )\).
3. Use a suitable approximation to find the probability that, in five randomly chosen days, the total number of tables booked is greater than 40 .

8

1. A group of students is discussing the conditions that are needed if a Poisson distribution is to be a good model for the number of telephone calls received by a fire brigade on a working day.
   1. Alice says "Events must be independent". Explain why this condition may not hold in this context.
   2. State a different condition that is needed. Explain whether it is likely to hold in this context.
2. The random variables \(R , S\) and \(T\) have independent Poisson distributions with means \(\lambda , \mu\) and \(\lambda + \mu\) respectively.
   1. In the case \(\lambda = 2.74\), find \(\mathrm { P } ( R > 2 )\).
   2. In the case \(\lambda = 2\) and \(\mu = 3\), find \(\mathrm { P } ( R = 0\) and \(S = 1 ) + \mathrm { P } ( R = 1\) and \(S = 0 )\). Give your answer correct to 4 decimal places.
   3. In the general case, show algebraically that $$\mathrm { P } ( R = 0 \text { and } S = 1 ) + \mathrm { P } ( R = 1 \text { and } S = 0 ) = \mathrm { P } ( T = 1 ) .$$

9 The managers of a car breakdown recovery service are discussing whether the number of breakdowns per day can be modelled by a Poisson distribution. They agree that breakdowns occur randomly. Manager \(A\) says, "it must be assumed that breakdowns occur at a constant rate throughout the day".

1. Give an improved version of Manager \(A\) 's statement, and explain why the improvement is necessary.
2. Explain whether you think your improved statement is likely to hold in this context. Assume now that the number \(B\) of breakdowns per day can be modelled by the distribution \(\operatorname { Po } ( \lambda )\).
3. Given that \(\lambda = 9.0\) and \(\mathrm { P } \left( B > B _ { 0 } \right) < 0.1\), use tables to find the smallest possible value of \(B _ { 0 }\), and state the corresponding value of \(\mathrm { P } \left( B > B _ { 0 } \right)\).
4. Given that \(\mathrm { P } ( B = 2 ) = 0.0072\), show that \(\lambda\) satisfies an equation of the form \(\lambda = 0.12 \mathrm { e } ^ { k \lambda }\), for a value of \(k\) to be stated. Evaluate the expression \(0.12 \mathrm { e } ^ { k \lambda }\) for \(\lambda = 8.5\) and \(\lambda = 8.6\), giving your answers correct to 4 decimal places. What can be deduced about a possible value of \(\lambda\) ?

2 John is observing butterflies being blown across a fence in a strong wind. He uses the Poisson distribution with mean 2.1 to model the number of butterflies he observes in one minute.

1. Find the probability that John observes
   (A) no butterflies in a minute,
   (B) at least 2 butterflies in a minute,
   (C) between 5 and 10 butterflies inclusive in a period of 5 minutes.
2. Use a suitable approximating distribution to find the probability that John observes at least 130 butterflies in a period of 1 hour. In fact some of the butterflies John observes being blown across the fence are being blown in pairs.
3. Explain why this invalidates one of the assumptions required for a Poisson distribution to be a suitable model. John decides to revise his model for the number of butterflies he observes in one minute. In this new model, the number of pairs of butterflies is modelled by the Poisson distribution with mean 0.2 , and the number of single butterflies is modelled by an independent Poisson distribution with mean 1.7.
4. Find the probability that John observes no more than 3 butterflies altogether in a period of one minute.

2 At a drive-through fast food takeaway, cars arrive independently, randomly and at a uniform average rate. The numbers of cars arriving per minute may be modelled by a Poisson distribution with mean 0.62.

1. Briefly explain the meaning of each of the three terms 'independently', 'randomly' and 'at a uniform average rate', in the context of cars arriving at a fast food takeaway.
2. Find the probability of at most 1 car arriving in a period of 1 minute.
3. Find the probability of more than 5 cars arriving in a period of 10 minutes.
4. State the exact distribution of the number of cars arriving in a period of 1 hour.
5. Use a suitable approximating distribution to find the probability that at least 40 cars arrive in a period of 1 hour.

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.

4 Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are pulses of gamma rays lasting a few seconds, which are produced by explosions in distant galaxies. They are detected by satellites in orbit around Earth. One particular satellite detects GRBs at a constant average rate of 3.5 per week (7 days). You may assume that the detection of GRBs by this satellite may be modelled by a Poisson distribution.

1. Find the probability that the satellite detects:
   1. exactly 4 GRBs during one particular week;
   2. at least 2 GRBs on one particular day;
   3. more than 10 GRBs but fewer than 20 GRBs during the 28 days of February 2013.
2. Give one reason, apart from the constant average rate, why it is likely that the detection of GRBs by this satellite may be modelled by a Poisson distribution.
   (1 mark)

4. A music website is visited by an average of 30 different people per hour on a weekday evening. The site's designer believes that the number of visitors to the site per hour can be modelled by a Poisson distribution.

1. State the conditions necessary for a Poisson distribution to be applicable and comment on their validity in this case. Assuming that the number of visitors does follow a Poisson distribution, find the probability that there will be
2. less than two visitors in a 10 -minute interval,
3. at least ten visitors in a 15-minute interval.
4. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability of the site being visited by more than 100 people between 6 pm and 9 pm on a Thursday evening.
   (5 marks)

4 It is known that in an electronic circuit, the number of electrons passing per nanosecond can be modelled by a Poisson distribution. In a particular electronic circuit, the mean number of electrons passing per nanosecond is 12 .

1. 1. Determine the probability that there are more than 15 electrons passing in a randomly selected nanosecond.
   2. Determine the probability that there are fewer than 50 electrons passing in a randomly selected period of 5 nanoseconds.
2. Explain what you can deduce about the electrons passing in the circuit from the fact that a Poisson distribution is a suitable model.

1 During a meteor shower, the number of meteors that can be seen at a particular location can be modelled by a Poisson distribution with mean 1.2 per minute.

1. Find the probability that exactly 2 meteors are seen in a period of 1 minute.
2. Find the probability that more than 3 meteors are seen in a period of 1 minute.
3. Find the probability that no more than 8 meteors are seen in a period of 10 minutes.
4. Explain what the fact that the number of meteors seen can be modelled by a Poisson distribution tells you about the occurrence of meteors.

1. A manager keeps a record of accidents in a canteen.

Accidents occur randomly with an average of 2.7 per month. The manager decides to model the number of accidents with a Poisson distribution.

1. Give a reason why a Poisson distribution could be a suitable model in this situation.
2. Assuming that a Poisson model is suitable, find the probability of
   1. at least 3 accidents in the next month,
   2. no more than 10 accidents in a 3-month period,
   3. at least 2 months with no accidents in an 8-month period. One day, two members of staff bump into each other in the canteen and each report the accident to the manager. The canteen manager is unsure whether to record this as one or two accidents. Given that the manager still wants to model the number of accidents per month with a Poisson distribution,
3. state
   • a property of the Poisson distribution that the manager should consider when deciding how to record this situation
   • whether the manager should record this as one or two accidents
   The manager introduces some new procedures to try and reduce the average number of accidents per month. During the following 12 months the total number of accidents is 22 The manager claims that the accident rate has been reduced.
4. Use a \(5 \%\) level of significance to carry out a suitable test to assess the manager's claim.
   You should state your hypotheses clearly and the \(p\)-value used in your test.

4 Leyla investigates the number of shoppers who visit a shop between 10.30 am and 11 am on Saturday mornings. She makes the following assumptions.

• Shoppers visit the shop independently of one another.
• The average rate at which shoppers visit the shop between these times is constant.
  1. State an appropriate distribution with which Leyla could model the number of shoppers who visit the shop between these times.

Leyla uses this distribution, with mean 14, as her model.

Calculate the probability that, between 10.35 am and 10.50 am on a randomly chosen Saturday, at least 10 shoppers visit the shop. Leyla chooses 25 Saturdays at random.

Find the expected number of Saturdays, out of 25, on which there are no visitors to the shop between 10.35 am and 10.50 am .

In fact on 5 of these Saturdays there were no visitors to the shop between 10.35 am and 10.50 am . Use this fact to comment briefly on the validity of the model that Leyla has used.

1 In a study of urban foxes it is found that on average there are 2 foxes in every 3 acres.

1. Use a Poisson distribution to find the probability that, at a given moment,
   1. in a randomly chosen area of 3 acres there are at least 4 foxes,
   2. in a randomly chosen area of 1 acre there are exactly 2 foxes.
   3. Explain briefly why a Poisson distribution might not be a suitable model.

The small village of Tornep has a preservation society which is campaigning for a new by-pass to be built. The society needs to measure

1. the strength of opinion amongst the residents of Tornep for the scheme and
2. the flow of traffic through the village on weekdays. The society wants to know whether to use a census or a sample survey for each of these measures.
   1. In each case suggest which they should use and specify a suitable sampling frame. [4] For the measurement of traffic flow through Tornep,
   2. suggest a suitable statistic and a possible statistical model for this statistic. [2]

Sabrina counts the number of cars passing her house during randomly chosen one minute intervals. Two assumptions are needed for the number of cars passing her house in a fixed time interval to be well modelled by a Poisson distribution.

1. State these two assumptions. [2]
2. For each assumption in part (i) give a reason why it might not be a reasonable assumption for this context. [2]

Assume now that the number of cars that pass Sabrina's house in one minute can be well modelled by the distribution \(\mathrm{Po}(0.8)\).

1. 1. Write down an expression for the probability that, in a given one minute period, exactly \(r\) cars pass Sabrina's house. [1]
   2. Hence find the probability that, in a given one minute period, exactly 2 cars pass Sabrina's house. [1]
2. Find the probability that, in a given 30 minute period, at least 28 cars pass Sabrina's house. [3]
3. The number of bicycles that pass Sabrina's house in a 5 minute period is a random variable with the distribution \(\mathrm{Po}(1.5)\). Find the probability that, in a given 10 minute period, the total number of cars and bicycles that pass Sabrina's house is between 12 and 15 inclusive. State a necessary condition. [4]

Sabrina counts the number of cars passing her house during randomly chosen one minute intervals. Two assumptions are needed for the number of cars passing her house in a fixed time interval to be well modelled by a Poisson distribution.

1. State these two assumptions. [2]
2. For each assumption in part (i) give a reason why it might not be a reasonable assumption for this context. [2]

Assume now that the number of cars that pass Sabrina's house in one minute can be well modelled by the distribution \(\text{Po}(0.8)\).

1. 1. Write down an expression for the probability that, in a given one minute period, exactly \(r\) cars pass Sabrina's house. [1]
   2. Hence find the probability that, in a given one minute period, exactly 2 cars pass Sabrina's house. [1]
2. Find the probability that, in a given 30 minute period, at least 28 cars pass Sabrina's house. [3]
3. The number of bicycles that pass Sabrina's house in a 5 minute period is a random variable with the distribution \(\text{Po}(1.5)\). Find the probability that, in a given 10 minute period, the total number of cars and bicycles that pass Sabrina's house is between 12 and 15 inclusive. State a necessary condition. [4]