YZV231E - Prob. & Stat.

for Data Science

2023/2024 Spring
Homework 2
Professor: Murat Okatan
Res. Asst.: Barış Bilen
bilenb20@itu.edu.tr

• Cheating is highly discouraged. It will be punished by a negative grade. Also

disciplinary actions will be taken. Please do your homework on your own. Team
work is not allowed. Pattern of your solutions must belong only to you.

• Upload your solutions through Ninova. Homeworks sent via e-mail and late sub-
missions will not be accepted.

• You should write all your codes in Python (3.8+) language using Jupyter note-
book, unless stated otherwise in the question. You can install Jupyter Notebook
by following these steps on this documentation. If you are not familiar with Jupyter
Notebook, you can check this tutorial. You may also use Google Colab.

• Prepare a report using Latex including all your solutions, codes and their results.

• You should use the provided Latex template for the report. You may want
to use mathpix. You cannot embed your handwritten solutions into the
document unless it’s stated so. Handwritten solutions will not be evaluated.

• Mathematical calculations must be done step-by-step.

• This homework has a total of 100 points. Each question has specified number
of points.

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YZV231E - Prob. & Stat. for Data Science 2023/2024 Spring Homework 2

1 Problems (80 Points)

Question 1 (20 pts)

In the unpredictable lands of Numeria, there exists a quantum dice known as the Dice
of Destiny. Its powers are governed by the mighty laws of probability, and the Numerian
Wizards have been trying to decipher its secrets. The Dice of Destiny can land on
any integer value from −2 to 2, including 0, but it has been enchanted such that the
probability of landing on each number is not equal. The probability mass function
(PMF) of the Dice’s outcome, X, is described by:
( 4
x
, if x = −2, −1, 0, 1, 2,
pX [x] = 2a
0, otherwise

a) The wizards must uncover the value of a and E[X]

b) With E[X] known, the wizards must then describe the PMF of the variable Z =
(X − E[X])2

c) Using their knowledge of Z, the wizards are then asked to find the variance of X

d) To test their mastery over the laws of probability,Pthe wizards are to find the
variance of X directly using the formula V ar[X] = x (x − E[X])2 .pX (x)

Question 2 (20 pts)

In the heart of the Enchanted Forest, there exists a species of luminous mushrooms
known only to the mystical inhabitants of the woodland. A curious scholar, enchanted
by tales of these mushrooms, ventures into the forest to study them, discovering that
their glow intensity can be quantified and follows a peculiar pattern. The scholar names
this variable intensity Y , and through careful observation, determines its Probability
Mass Function (PMF) to be governed by the formula pK = 3a2k for k = 1, 2, 3, ... where
k represents the intensity level of the mushrooms’ glow.

a) Help the scholar by determining the value of a, ensuring the PMF is properly
normalized.

b) Calculate the probability that a randomly chosen luminous mushroom exhibits a

glow intensity greater than 4 (P [Y > 4]) and the probability of observing a glow
intensity between 6 and 9, inclusive (P [6 ≤ Y ≤ 9]).

c) Finally, aid in the analysis by finding the expected glow intensity E[Y ] and the
variance of the glow intensity V ar[Y ] among the mystical mushrooms.

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Question 3 (20 pts)

A fund manager decides to diversify their portfolio by investing in two distinct sectors:
technology and healthcare. The manager allocates funds to purchase 300 shares of a
leading technology company (TechCo) and 100 shares of a prominent healthcare company
(HealthCo). Let X and Y denote the daily price fluctuations (in dollars) of TechCo and
HealthCo stocks, respectively. Assume the discrete joint Probability Mass Function
(PMF) of X and Y is uniform over the set of integers x and y satisfying:

0 ≤ x ≤ 4, 0 ≤ y − x ≤ 3

a) Determine the marginal PMFs and the means of X and Y .

b) Compute the mean of the fund manager’s daily return.

Question 4 (15 pts)

In a bustling city park, a fountain has a unique feature: it shoots water jets at varying
intervals. The time, in minutes, between consecutive water jet displays is described
by a continuous random variable X. The pattern of these displays is captured by the
cumulative density function (CDF), expressed as:
t t
F (t) = c − (1 + )e− 5 , for t > 0
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with c being a constant.

a) Find the constant c that characterizes the timing of the water jet displays.

b) Calculate the probability density function (PDF) p of X, to better understand the

intervals at which the water jets are activated.

c) If a visitor named Jordan arrives at the park just as a water jet display concludes,
determine the probability that Jordan will have to wait:
1. Less than three minutes for the next water jet display.
2. More than one but less than four minutes for the next activation.

Question 5 (5 pts)

The efficiency of a new solar panel model is a random variable, E, uniformly distributed
between 0.2 and 0.8.Calculate the probability that the efficiency of a randomly selected
panel will exceed 0.5 in the next test.

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YZV231E - Prob. & Stat. for Data Science 2023/2024 Spring Homework 2

2 Coding (20 Points)

For this part, please download the Jupyter notebook and code the necessary parts.

3 Submission
You need to prepare a report for all the parts including coding part and its results.
You need to submit the files shown below as zip file named with your number (i.e
123123123.zip).

1. Homework 2 - Coding Part.ipynb # solution of the coding part

2. report.pdf # report file as pdf format

3. report.tex # report file as tex format