ST.

XAVIER’S COLLEGE
KOLKATA
(AUTONOMOUS)

1st SEMESTER EXAMINATION

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2016
B.A./B.Sc.
Monday, November 21, 2016
ST31011T 01:00 PM to 04:00 PM
3 hours
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 1
Full Marks : 80
AND PROBABILITY THEORY 1

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST:

 Of the questions attempted, the answers to only the first required number of questions (as stipulated
in the question paper) will be evaluated. So please do not attempt extra questions.
 Use fountain pen or ball-point pen of blue or black ink.
 Answer in your own words as far as practicable.
 Do not write anything on the Question paper other than your Roll No.
 Answer each Group in a separate Answer Script.

GROUP – A
Answer ANY TWO from Question Nos. 1 to 4. [2×5=10]
Answer ANY TWO from Question Nos. 5 to 7. [2×15=30]
GROUP – B
Answer ANY TWO from Question Nos. 8 to 11. [2×5=10]
Answer ANY TWO from Question Nos. 12 to 14. [2×15=30]

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
The marks are given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

The question paper consists of 4 pages.

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 Of the questions attempted, the answers to only the first required number of
questions (as stipulated in the question paper) will be evaluated.
So, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT EXTRA QUESTIONS.

Answer EACH GROUP in a SEPARATE ANSWERSCRIPT.

GROUP – A
Answer ANY TWO from Question Nos. 1 to 4 and ANY TWO from Question Nos. 5 to 7.
1. Explain the difference between observational studies and controlled experiments with
appropriate examples. [5]

2. The marks obtained in a statistics examination by a group of students has mean 76 and
standard deviation 8. They have mean score 81 and standard deviation 12 in a
mathematics examination. We want scores in each subject to have mean 80 and
standard deviation 10. What linear transformations will change the marks in each
subject into new marks that have the desired mean and standard deviation? State
clearly all the necessary results. [5]

3. It is known that in general Asian elephants weigh between 3000-4000 kg. Five selected
elephants have their weights recorded as 3000, 2800, 3500, 3600 and 8000. Mention
with justification an appropriate measure of central tendency and dispersion for the
above data. Each elephant was given an injection for a month which led to an increment
in their weight by ‘e’ kg. How will your earlier measures be affected? [2+3]

4. 40 losses due to wind related catastrophes were recorded to the nearest one million
dollar. The summary statistics came out as follows:
Minimum = 2, Maximum = 43, Median = 5, First quartile= 2, Third quartile =13.5.
Present the above information through a diagram. Interpret the findings. Mention one
advantage and one disadvantage of the proposed diagram. [2+1+2]

5. (a) A teacher collected data from Hospital “H” on cholesterol levels of 68 patients
suffering from Atherosclerosis (a type of heart disease). She gave this raw data to a
student “A”. She condensed the cholesterol data into 5 classes of equal width and
gave this grouped frequency data to student “B”. Each student was asked to
calculate the mean cholesterol level and the variance of the cholesterol data. The
two students came out with separate answers. Assuming that none of the students
made calculation error, explain the reason for discrepancy in their answers
explaining which answer ought to be accurate. Can the other student apply some
corrections to get improved values of mean and variance? If so state the necessary
assumptions under which such corrections could be applied.
(b) Create a set of 5 positive numbers (repeats allowed) that have median 7 and mean
10. Add one additional observation without changing the median. Justify your
choice. Show that when you add yet another observation the median does not
change. [(3+2+3)+(3+2+2)]

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6. (a) Given a set of observations ( x1 , x2 ,.., xn ) on a variable ‘x’, consider a function given
by,
1  1 n 
f ( A) 
n
exp    xi  A  . Prove for what value of A, the function will be
2  2 i 1 
maximum?
(b) The data from National Geographic reported the following litter sizes for 20 lions.
1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 3, 3, 4, 2, 3,2, 2, 3,3, 4,4, 3,3, 2.
Prepare a frequency distribution of the above data. Present the data through a
suitable diagram. Without actual calculation find the skewness of the above data
by proving necessary result. [7+(2+1+5)]

7. (a) Define Gini’s measure of dispersion. Establish the relationship of Gini’s measure
with the variance.
(b) What do you mean by Kurtosis of a frequency distribution?Define b2 as a measure of
kurtosis. Prove that b2  1. When does the equality hold? Distinguish between the
leptokurtic, mesokurtic and plastykurtic distributions. [5+(1+2+3+1+3)]

GROUP – B
Answer ANY TWO from Question Nos. 8 to 11 and ANY TWO from Question Nos. 12 to 14.
8. Define a Sigma-Field of events. Show that a Sigma-Field of events is closed under the
formation of countable intersections. [2+3]

9. Describe the intuitive idea of probability in terms of relative frequency. Explain why the
long-run relative frequency interpretation of probability does not apply to the following
situation: The proportion of days when the home loan rate at your bank is above its
value at the start of the year. [3+2]

10. In a town of (n+1) inhabitants, a person tells a rumour to a second person, who in turn
repeats it to a third person and so on. At each step the recipient of the rumour is chosen
at random from n available persons. Find the probability that the rumour will be told r
times without returning to the originator. [5]

11. Let two players A and B throw a fair die alternatively. He, who first gets a six, wins the
game. Suppose A starts the game. What is the probability that B will win? [5]

12. (a) Let be events defined on a probability space (Ω, A, P). Then prove that

(⋃ ) ∑ ( ) ∑ ( ⋂ ) ∑ ( ⋂ ⋂ )

( ) (⋂ ).
(b) Suppose r distinguishable objects are distributed among n boxes at random where
each box is free to receive any number of objects. What is the probability that
exactly m of the boxes will remain empty? [8+7]

13. (a) An urn contains 7 balls marked LOSE and 3 balls marked WIN. You and an opponent
take turns selecting a single ball at random from the urn without replacement. The
person who selects the third WIN ball wins the game. It does not matter who selected
the first two WIN balls.

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 (i) If you draw first, find the probability that you win the game on your
second draw.
(ii) If you draw first, find the probability that your opponent wins the game
on his second draw.
(iii) If you draw first, what is the probability that you win?
(b) Let be events defined on a probability space (Ω, A,P). Then show that
(⋃ ) ∑ ( ) ∑ ( ). [(2+3+3)+7]

14. (a) A box contains coins of which ( ) are fair and the rest are biased. The
probability of getting a ‘head’ when a fair coin is tossed is ½ and it is ⁄ when a
biased coin is tossed. A coin is drawn from the box at random and is tossed twice.
The first toss shows a ‘head’ and the second toss a ‘tail’. What is the probability that
the coin drawn is fair?
(b) Let pn , be the probability that an automobile policyholder will file for
n claims in a five-year period. The actuary involved makes the assumption that
pn1  1/ 4  pn . What is the probability that the holder will file two or more claims
during this period?
(c) Hunters A and B shoot at a target with probabilities of p1 and p2 , respectively.
Assuming independence, can p1 and p2 be selected so that (zero hits) = (one hit) =
(two hits)? [7+4+4]

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