MATHEMATICS II: HOMEWORK EXERCISES

Exercise 1:

You pick, without replacement, three cards at random out of a deck of 52 cards. Let X be
the number of different suits (diamonds, spades, hearts, clubs) you have picked.

a)Give a sample space and probability measure that describe this experiment. Also describe
an event space which might be of relevance in this experiment.

b)Determine the probability mass function of the discrete random variable X.

Exercise 2:

Suppose that 3 stations want to transmit packets over a shared communication channel. Time
is divided into timeslots. In each timeslot, each station, independently of the other stations,
transmits a packet over the channel with probability . If exactly one station transmits a
packet over the channel, then the transmission is successfull. However, if two or more stations
transmit a packet in the same timeslot, then a collision occurs and all the transmitted packets
during the timeslot are lost.

a)How should we choose if we want to maximize the expected number of successfully

transmitted packets in a timeslot?

b)How should we choose if we want to minimize the expected number of lost packets in a
timeslot?

Assume that for each transmitted packet we earn one unit of money and for each lost packet
we loose one unit of money.

c) How should we choose if we want to maximize our expected amount of money?

Exercise 3:

The length, X, of a phone call is exponentially distributed with parameter = 1. A phone

company charges 10 cents per minute. For any fraction of a minute at the end of a call, the
company charges a full minute. Let Y be the number of minutes you have to pay for at the
end of the call (and hence 10 Y are the costs of the phone call).

a)Determine the probability mass function of the random variable Y . Clearly show the
calculations leading to your answer.

b)What are expectation and variance of the costs of a call?

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Exercise 4:

The random variable X has probability density function

x
4,
0 x 2,
fX (x) = 1 x4 , 2 x 4,

0, otherwise.

Furthermore, define the random variable Y = g(X), with

1,
x 1,
g(x) = x, 1 < x 3,

3, x > 3.

a)Give the cumulative distribution function FX (x) and expected value E(X) of the random
variable X.

b)Determine the cumulative distribution function FY (y) and expected value E(Y ) of the
random variable Y .

c) Is the random variable Y a discrete, continuous or mixed random variable. Clearly explain
your answer.