PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION

Q.1 Consider a dice with the probability of a face showing up is proportional to n. Where n is no. of dots
on the face. The probability of the face with three dots showing up is _____. (Gate-2014)

Q.2 Let x be a random variable which is uniformly chosen from the set of positive add numbers less than
100. The expectation E(x) is ___. (Gate -2014)

Q.3 Let x1 , x 2 and x 3 be independent and identically distributed random variables with uniform
distribution on [0, 1]. The probability that x1 is target is ___. (Gate-2014)

Q.4 Consider a random variable x that take values +1 and -1 with probability 0.5 each. The value of
cumulative distribution function f(x) at x = -1 and x = +1 are ____. (Gate-2012)

1 1 1
Q.5 A machine produces 0, 1 or 2 defective pieces in a day with associated probability , ,
6 2 6
respectively. The mean value and the variance of the number of defective pieces produced by the
number of the machine in a day, are respectively are ____ . (Gate-2014)

Q.6 A fair die with faces {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} is thrown repeatedly till ‘3’ is observed for the first time. Let x
denote the number times the die is thrown. The expected value of x is ___. (Gate-2015)

Q.7 The value of  such that function f(x) is a valid probability density function is ____. (Gate-2013)
  x 1 2  x  ,
 1 x  2
f x  

0 Otherwise

x
e 2
Q.8 Given that x is a random variable in the range  0,  with a probability density function , the
K
value of content K is ___. (Gate-2014)

Q.9 The probability density function of evaporation on any day during a year in a watershed is given by
 1 ,o  E  5mm/day
f  E   5
0 ,Otherwise
The probability that E lies between 2 and 4 mm/day in the watershed is ___. (Gate-2014)

Q.10 A continuous random variable x has probability density function f  x   e x ,0  x   , the

P  x  1 is___. (Gate-2013)

Q.11 Let x be a random variable with probability density function

0.2 , x 1

f  x   0.1 ,1  x  4
0 , Otherwise

The probability P(0.5<x<5) is ____. (Gate-2014)

Q.12 Life time of an electric bulb is a random variable with density f  x   Kx 2 , where x is measured in
years. If the minimum and maximum life times of bulb are 1 and 2 years respectively, then the value of K
is ___. (Gate-2014)

 x2
Q.13 A probability density function is given by p  x   Ke 2
,   x  , the value of K should be
____. (Gate-1997)

Q.14 Two independent random variables X and Y are uniformly distributed over the interval [-1, 1]. The
1
probability that max[x, y] is less than is ___. (Gate-2012)
2

Q.15 In an experiment, positive and negative values are equally likely to occur. The probability of
obtaining at most one negative value in five trails is ____. (Gate-2012)

Q.16 If probability density function of a random variable x is

3
f  x   x 2 ,for 1  x  1 and
2
 0, for otherwise
 1 1
Then, the percentage probability P   x   is _____. (Gate-2008)
 3 3

Q.17 A random variable x has x  0, x  1. form a new random variable y  2x 1 , The values of
2

y and 2y are: (ISRO-2012)

Q.18 A probability density function is of the form p  x   Ke , x   ,   , the value of K is __.
 x
 (Gate-2006)

Q.19 x is a uniformly distributed random variable that takes values between 0 and 1. The value of
E  x3  will be ____. (Gate-2008)

   and the
Q.20 If the difference between the expectation of the square of random variable E x 2

 
square of expectation of on random variable E  x  is denoted by R then ____.
2
(Gate-2011)
(a) R  0
(b) R  0
(c) R  0
(d) R  0

Q.21 If 20 percent managers are technocrats, the probability that a random committee of 5 managers
consists of exactly 2 technocrats is ___. (Gate-1993)

Q.22 The probability of a defective piece being produced in a manufacturing process is 0.01. The
probability that out of 5 successive pieces, only one is defective is ____. (Gate-1996)

Q.23 In a manufacturing plant, the probability of making a defective bolt is 0.1 %. The mean and
standard deviation of defective bolts in a total of 900 bolts are respectively _____. (Gate-2000)

Q.24 Suppose x is a normal random variable with mean 0 and variable 4. Then the mean of the absolute
value of x is _____. (Gate-1999)

Q.25 Call arrivals at a telephone booth are considered to be Poisson with an average time of 10 minutes.
Between successive arrivals. The length of a phone call is distributed exponentially with mean 3 minutes.
Probability that an arrival doesn’t have to wait before revive is _____. (Gate-2002)(IES-2000)

Q.26 A lot has 10% defective items. Ten items are chosen randomly from this lot. The probability that
exactly 2 of the chosen items are defective is _____. (Gate-2005)

Q.27 Consider a conditions random variable with probability density function

1  t, 1  t  0
f t  
1  t, 0  t  1
The standard deviation of the random variable is ____. (Gate-2006)

Q.28 Let x be a nominal variable with mean 1 and variance 4. The probability P(x<0) is ____.
(Gate-2013)
(a) 0.5
(b) Greater than zero and less than 0.5.
(c) Greater than 0.5 and less than 1.
(d) 1.0

Q.29 Suppose P is number of cars per minute parsing through certain road junction between SPM and 6
Pm, and P has Poisson distribution with mean 3. What is the probability of observing fewer than 3 cars
during any given minute in this interval? (Gate-2013)

Q.30 An observer counts 240 Veh/hr at a specific highway junction. Assume that the vehicle arrival at
location is Poisson distributed, the probability of having one vehicle arriving over a 30-second time
interval is ____. (Gate-2014)

Q.31 Let U and V be two independent zero mean Gaussian random meaning variables of vacancies
1 1
and respectively. The probability P  3V  2u  is ____. (Gate-2013)
4 9

Q.32 A traffic office imposes on an average 5 number of penalties on different days in independent and
follows a Poisson distribution. The probability that there will be less than 4 penalties in a day is ____.
(Gate-2014)

Q.33 If {x} is a continuous, real valued random variable defined over the interval (, ) and its
occurrence is defined by the density function given as:
2
1  x a 
1   
f x  e 2 b 

2  b
Where a and b are the statistical attributes of the random variable {x}. The value of the integral
2
a 1  x a 
1   

 2  b
e 2 b 
dx is ______. (Gate-2014)

Q.34 A nationalized bank has found that the daily balance available in its savings accounts follows a
normal distribution with a mean of Rs. 500 and a standard deviation of Rs. 50. The percentage of savings
account holders, who maintain an average daily balance more than Rs. 500 is ____.
(Gate-2014)

Q.35 The number of accidents occurring in a plant in a month follows Poisson distribution with mean as
5.2. The probability of occurrence of less than 2 accidents in the plant during a randomly selected month
is ______. (Gate-2014)

Q.36 An unbiased coin is tossed an infinite number of times. The probability that the fourth head
appears at the tenth toss is _____. (Gate-2014)
  
Q.37 Let x be a zero mean unit variance Gaussian random variable. E x is equal to ___.
(Gate-2014)
Q.38 Consider an unbiased cubic dice with opposite faces colored identically and each face colored red,
blue or green such that each color appears only two times on the dice. If the dice is thrown thrice, the
probability of obtaining red color on top of the face of the dice at least twice is _____. (Gate-2014)

Q.39 Let x1 , x 2 and x 3 be independent and identically distributed random variables with the uniform
distribution on [0, 1]. The probability P  x1  x 2  x3  is _____. (Gate-2014)

Q.40 A fair coin is tossed repeatedly till both head and tail appear at least once. The average number of
tosses required is ____. (Gate-2014)

Q.41 The standard normal probability function can be approximated as

1
f x 
1  exp  1.7255x N x N 0.12 
Where x N =standard normal deviate. If mean and standard deviation of annual precipitation are 102 em
and 27 em respectively, the probability that the annual precipitation will be 90 em and 102 em is ____.
(Gate-2008)
(a) 66.7%
(b) 50.0%
(c) 33.3%
(d) 16.7%
Q.42 The distribution of marks scored by a large class in an exam can be represented as a normal
distribution with mean  and standard deviation  . In a follow-up exam in the same class, everyone
scored 5 marks more than their respective score in the earlier exam. For this follow up exam, the
distribution of marks can be represented as normal distribution with mean 2 and standard deviation
 2 . Which one of the following is correct? (Gate-2017)
(a)   2 ;   2
(b)   2 ;   2
(c)   2 ;   2
(d)   2 ;   2

Q.43 The probability density is p  x   0.5e  p  x  dx  _____.
0.5x
the integral (Gate-2017)
0

Q.44 Vehicles arriving at an intersection from one of the approach roads follows the Poisson
distribution. The mean sate of arrival is 900 veh/hr. If a gap is defined as the time difference between
two successive vehicle arrivals (With vehicles assumed to be points), the probability (up to four decimal
places) that the gap is greater than 8 second is ____. (Gate-2017)
Q.45 For the function f  x   a  bx,0  x  1to be a valid probability density function. Which one of
the following statement is correct? (Gate-2017)
(a) a=1, b=4
(b)a=0.5, b=1
(c) a=0, b=1
(d) a=1, b=-1

Q.46 For a construction project, the mean and standard deviation of the completion time are 200 days
and 6.1 days respectively. Assume normal distribution and use the value of standard normal deviate
z=1.64 for the 95% confidence level. The maximum time required (in days) for the completion of the
project would be _____. (Gate-2017)

Q.47 Let X be a Gaussian random variable with mean 0 and variance 2 . Let Y=max(x, 0) where max(a, b)
is the maximum of a and b. The median of Y is _____. (Gate-2017)

Q.48 If a random variable X has a Poisson distribution with mean 5, then the expectation E  x  2 
2
 
equals _____. (Gate-2017)