Consecutive non-overlapping periods

Questions specifically about consecutive or successive time periods where the temporal ordering or sequence matters (e.g., first half vs second half, successive minutes).

10 questions · Standard +0.3

5.02i Poisson distribution: random events model5.02j Poisson formula: P(X=x) = e^(-lambda)*lambda^x/x!5.02k Calculate Poisson probabilities5.02l Poisson conditions: for modelling
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CAIE S2 2014 June Q7
9 marks Moderate -0.8
7 A Lost Property office is open 7 days a week. It may be assumed that items are handed in to the office randomly, singly and independently.
  1. State another condition for the number of items handed in to have a Poisson distribution. It is now given that the number of items handed in per week has the distribution \(\operatorname { Po } ( 4.0 )\).
  2. Find the probability that exactly 2 items are handed in on a particular day.
  3. Find the probability that at least 4 items are handed in during a 10-day period.
  4. Find the probability that, during a certain week, 5 items are handed in altogether, but no items are handed in on the first day of the week.
OCR S3 2007 June Q5
9 marks Standard +0.3
5 A music store sells both upright and grand pianos. Grand pianos are sold at random times and at a constant average weekly rate \(\lambda\). The probability that in one week no grand pianos are sold is 0.45 .
  1. Show that \(\lambda = 0.80\), correct to 2 decimal places. Upright pianos are sold, independently, at random times and at a constant average weekly rate \(\mu\). During a period of 100 weeks the store sold 180 upright pianos.
  2. Calculate the probability that the total number of pianos sold in a randomly chosen week will exceed 3.
  3. Calculate the probability that over a period of 3 weeks the store sells a total of 6 pianos during the first week and a total of 4 pianos during the next fortnight.
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 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 2018 October Q7
12 marks Standard +0.8
7. Members of a conservation group record the number of sightings of a rare animal. The number of sightings follows a Poisson distribution with a rate of 1 every 2 months.
  1. Find the smallest value of \(n\) such that the probability that there are at least \(n\) sightings in 2 months is less than 0.05
  2. Find the smallest number of months, \(m\), such that the probability of no sightings in \(m\) months is less than 0.05
  3. Find the probability that there is at least 1 sighting per month in each of 3 consecutive months.
  4. Find the probability that the number of sightings in an 8 month period is equal to the expected number of sightings for that period.
  5. Given that there were 4 sightings in a 4 month period, find the probability that there were more sightings in the last 2 months than in the first 2 months.
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 2018 Specimen 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 £60
  4. Using a suitable approximation, find the probability that, in 90 days, the total amount of fines issued will be more than \(\pounds 5000\)
OCR MEI Further Statistics Minor 2024 June Q5
12 marks Easy -1.2
5 Over a long period of time, it is found that the mean number of mistakes made by a certain player when playing a particular piece of music is 5 . The number of mistakes that the player makes when playing the piece is denoted by the random variable \(Y\).
  1. State two assumptions necessary for \(Y\) to be modelled by a Poisson distribution. For the remainder of this question you may assume that \(Y\) can be modelled by a Poisson distribution.
    1. Find the probability that the player makes exactly 3 mistakes when playing the piece.
    2. Find the probability that the player makes fewer than 3 mistakes when playing the piece.
    3. Find the probability that the player makes fewer than 6 mistakes in total when playing the piece twice, assuming that the performances are independent. In a recording studio, the player plays the piece once in the morning and once in the afternoon each day for one week (7 days). It can be assumed that all the performances are independent of each other. The performances are recorded onto two CDs, one for each of two critics, A and B, to review. The critics are interested in the total number of mistakes made by the player per day. Unfortunately, there is a recording error in one of the CDs; on this CD, every piece that is supposed to be an afternoon recording is in fact just a repeat of that morning's recording. The random variables \(M _ { 1 }\) and \(M _ { 2 }\) represent the total number of mistakes per day for the correctly recorded CD and for the wrongly recorded CD respectively.
  2. By considering the values of \(\mathrm { E } \left( M _ { 1 } \right)\) and \(\mathrm { E } \left( M _ { 2 } \right)\) explain why it is not possible to use the mean number of mistakes per day on the CDs to determine which critic received the wrongly recorded CD. Each critic counts the total number of mistakes made per day, for each of the 7 days of recordings on their CD. Summary data for this is given below. Critic A: \(\quad n = 7 , \quad \sum x _ { A } = 70 , \quad \sum x _ { A } ^ { 2 } = 812\) Critic B: \(\quad \mathrm { n } = 7 , \sum \mathrm { x } _ { \mathrm { B } } = 72 , \sum \mathrm { x } _ { \mathrm { B } } ^ { 2 } = 800\)
  3. By considering the values of \(\operatorname { Var } \left( M _ { 1 } \right)\) and \(\operatorname { Var } \left( M _ { 2 } \right)\) determine which critic is likely to have received the wrongly recorded CD.
OCR MEI Further Statistics Minor Specimen Q4
8 marks Moderate -0.3
  1. State the conditions under which the Poisson distribution is an appropriate model for the number of emails received by one person in a day. [2]
Jane records the number of junk emails which she receives each day. During working hours (\(9\)am to \(5\)pm, Monday to Friday) the mean number of junk emails is \(7.4\) per day. Outside working hours (\(5\)pm to \(9\)am), the mean number of junk emails is \(0.3\) per hour. For the remainder of this question, you should assume that Poisson models are appropriate for the number of junk emails received during each of "working hours" and "outside working hours".
  1. Find the probability that the number of junk emails which she receives between \(9\)am and \(5\)pm on a Monday is
    1. exactly \(10\), [1]
    2. at least \(10\). [2]
    1. What assumption must you make to calculate the probability that the number of junk emails which she receives from \(9\)am Monday to \(9\)am Tuesday is at most \(20\)? [1]
    2. Find the probability. [2]
SPS SPS ASFM 2020 May Q10
6 marks Standard +0.3
On any day, the number of orders received in one randomly chosen hour by an online supplier can be modelled by the distribution Po(120).
  1. Find the probability that at least 28 orders are received in a randomly chosen 10-minute period. [2]
  2. Find the probability that in a randomly chosen 10-minute period on one day and a randomly chosen 10-minute period on the next day a total of at least 56 orders are received. [3]
  3. State a necessary assumption for the validity of your calculation in part (b). [1]