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Unit Test - MC Review Practice

Multiple Choice (Answer Key at the BOTTOM)

1. An online customer service department estimates that about 15 percent of callers have to wait
more than 8 minutes to have their calls answered by a person. The department conducted a
simulation of 1,000 trials to estimate the probability that a certain number of callers out of the next
10 callers will have to wait more than 8 minutes to have their calls answered. The simulation is
shown in the following histogram.
 Based on the simulation, what is the probability that at most 2 of the next 10 callers will
have to wait more than 8 minutes to have their calls answered?

2. Mateo plays on his school basketball team. From past history, he knows that his probability of
making a basket on a free throw is 0.8. Suppose he wants to create a simulation using random
numbers to estimate the probability of making at least 3 baskets on his next 5 free throw attempts.
Which of the following assignments of the digits 0 to 9 could be used for the simulation?
3. Joslyn performed an experiment using a die with its faces numbered from 1 to 6. She rolled the
die and recorded whether the 5 landed face up. She repeated the process many times and kept a
cumulative record of the total number of rolls and the total number of 5s landing face up. The
following table shows part of her record.

Suppose Joslyn could roll the die 10,000 times and keep a record of the total number of 5s landing
face up in the 10,000 rolls. What would such a record illustrate?
4. At a sporting event, cheerleaders will throw 50 bundled T-shirts into the crowd. The T-shirt sizes
consist of 10 small, 15 medium, and the remainder either large or extra large. Suppose Ana
catches a T-shirt. What is the probability that she will catch a T-shirt that is not a size small?
A. 0.10
B. 0.20
C. 0.50
D. 0.67
E. 0.80

5. A middle school chess club has 5 members: Adam, Bradley, Carol, Dave, and Ella. Two students
from the club will be selected at random to participate in the county chess tournament. What is the
probability that Adam and Ella will be selected?

6. A fair die with its faces numbered from 1 to 6 will be rolled. Which of the following is the best
interpretation of the probability that the number landing face up will be less than 3?
7. A store owner reports that the probability that a customer who purchases a lawn mower will also
purchase an extended warranty is 0.68.
Which of the following is the best interpretation of the probability 0.68?

8. The probability that a randomly selected visitor to a certain website will be asked to participate
in an online survey is 0.40. Avery claims that for the next 5 visitors to the site, 2 will be asked to
participate in the survey.
Is Avery interpreting the probability correctly?
9. In a parking lot with 200 cars, 50 cars are white, 30 cars are red, and 20 cars are silver. One car
will be selected at random from the parking lot. If each car in the parking has only one color, which
of the following cannot be the probability that the selected car will be green?

10. A high school science teacher has 78 students. Of those students, 35 are in the band and 32
are on a sports team. There are 16 students who are not in the band or on a sports team. One
student from the 78 students will be selected at random. Let event B represent the event of
selecting a student in the band, and let event S represent the event of selecting a student on a
sports team.
Are B and S mutually exclusive events?

11.

The table shows data that were collected from people who attended a certain high school
basketball game and indicates the team each person rooted for and whether each of these people
purchased food during the game. A person who attended the game will be selected at random.
Which of the following correctly interprets mutually exclusive events represented by the table?
12. As a promotion, the first 50 customers who entered a certain store at a mall were asked to
choose from one of two discounts. The first discount choice was 20% off all purchases made that
day. The second discount choice was 10% off all purchases for the week. Of those who received
the discounts, 28 chose the first discount and 22 chose the second discount. One customer will be
selected at random from those who received a discount. Let F represent the event that the
selected person chose the first discount, and let S represent the event that the selected person
chose the second discount.
Are F and S mutually exclusive events?

13. One student from a high school will be selected at random. Let A be the event that the selected
student is a student-athlete, and let B be the event that the selected student drives to school. If
P(A∩B)=0.08 and P(B|A)=0.25, what is the probability that the selected student will be a
student-athlete?
14. The seniors at three high schools were surveyed about their plans after graduation. The
following table shows the responses, classified by high school.

One senior from the high school will be selected at random. What is the probability that the senior
selected will not be from High School B given that the senior responded with a choice other than
college?
15. Students at a local elementary school were shown a painting and asked which emotion—joy,
happiness, love, or anger—they felt by looking at the painting. The students were classified by their
age. The following table summarizes the responses of the students by age-group.

One student from the school will be selected at random. What is the probability that the student is
in the age group of 6 to 8 years given that the selected student responded with joy?

16. A company is considering purchasing the mineral rights to two different mountains. The
probability that it will purchase the mineral rights to the first mountain is 0.55. The probability that
it will purchase the mineral rights to the second mountain is 0.4. Assuming the decisions to
purchase the mineral rights to each mountain are made independently, what is the probability that
it will purchase the mineral rights to exactly one of the two mountains?
17. A student is applying to two different agencies for scholarships. Based on the student’s
academic record, the probability that the student will be awarded a scholarship from Agency A is
0.55 and the probability that the student will be awarded a scholarship from Agency B is 0.40.
Furthermore, if the student is awarded a scholarship from Agency A, the probability that the
student will be awarded a scholarship from Agency B is 0.60. What is the probability that the
student will be awarded at least one of the two scholarships?

18. Let random variable U represent the field goal percentage (percentage of shots made) for
players in a basketball league. The following table shows the probability distribution of the random
variable U.
Field Goal Percentage Probability

0.3 0.10

0.4 0.45
 0.5 0.30

0.6 0.10

0.7 0.05
Fatima claims that the distribution of U is uniform with a median of 0.4 field goal percentage. Is
Fatima’s claim supported by the table?

19. Let random variable Y represent the number of interviews conducted for job openings at a
certain company. The following table shows the cumulative probability distribution of the discrete
random variable Y.
y P(Y≤y)

y P(Y≤y)
5 0

6 0.2

7 0.4

8 0.6

9 0.8

10 1.0
Khaleed claims that the distribution of Y is skewed to the left with mean equal to 8 interviews. Is
Khaleed’s claim correct?
20. Let random variable R represent the number of visitors to a certain museum during a given
day. The following table shows the probability distribution of the random variable.

Which of the following claims about the distribution of random variable R is best supported by the
histogram?

21. The following table shows the probability distribution for the number of books a student
typically buys at the annual book fair held at an elementary school.
Numb 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
er of
Books
 Proba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
bility . . . . . . . .
3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
5 0 5 0 7 8 4 1
Let the random variable B represent the number of books a student buys at the next book fair.
What is the expected value of B ?
Responses

22. At a certain bakery, the price of each doughnut is $1.50. Let the random variable D represent
the number of doughnuts a typical customer purchases each day. The expected value and variance
of the probability distribution of D are 2.6 doughnuts and 3.6 (doughnuts)2, respectively. Let the
random variable P represents the price of the doughnuts that a typical customer purchases each
day. Which of the following is the standard deviation, in dollars, of the probability distribution of
P?
23. The quality control manager at a factory records the number of equipment breakdowns each
day. Let the random variable Y represent the number of breakdowns in one day. The standard
deviation of Y is 0.28. Which of the following is the best interpretation of the standard deviation?

24. Data were collected on the number of days per week that members visit a certain fitness
center. The values varied from 0 to 7, and a distribution of relative frequencies for the values was
created. Let the random variable X represent the number of days per week that a member visits.
The mean of X is 3.12. Which of the following statements is the best interpretation of the mean?

25. Let the random variable Q represent the number of students who go to a certain teacher’s
office hour each day. The standard deviation of Q is 2.2. Which of the following is the best
interpretation of the standard deviation?
26. At a large regional collegiate women’s swim meet, the official records the time it takes each
swimmer to swim 100 meters for all swimmers who compete in only one stroke category. The
following table shows the mean times and corresponding standard deviations for the collegiate
women at the swim meet for each of the four-stroke categories.
Stroke Category Mean 100 meter Time Standard Deviation

Backstroke 55.6 seconds 0.70 seconds

Breaststroke 63.3 seconds 0.92 seconds

Butterfly 54.4 seconds 0.94 seconds

Freestyle 50.2 seconds 0.76 seconds

For each of the 4 stroke categories, consider a random variable representing the time of a
randomly selected swimmer in that category. What is the standard deviation of the sum of the 4
random variables?
27. A player pays $15 to play a game in which a chip is randomly selected from a bag of chips. The
bag contains 10 red chips, 4 blue chips, and 6 yellow chips. The player wins $5 if a red chip is
selected, $10 if a blue chip is selected, and $20 if a yellow chip is selected. Let the random variable
X represent the amount won from the selection of the chip, and let the random variable W
represent the total amount won, where W=X−15. What is the mean of W ?

28. At a certain company, loan agents are paid based on the number of loans they close in a day.
Based on company records, the number of loans X that a randomly selected loan agent closes on a
randomly selected day has the probability distribution below.

At the company, the daily salary of a loan agent is $150 plus $50 per loan closed. Let Y represent
the amount of money made by a randomly selected loan agent on a randomly selected day. Which
of the following statements is NOT true?
29. The random variable X has a mean of 12 and a standard deviation of 3. The random variable W
is defined as W=7+2X. What are the mean and standard deviation of W?

30. According to a recent survey, 31 percent of the residents of a certain state who are age 25
years or older have a bachelor’s degree. A random sample of 50 residents of the state, age 25
years or older, will be selected. Let the random variable B represent the number in the sample who
have a bachelor’s degree. What is the probability that B will equal 40 ?
31. According to a recent survey, 81 percent of adults in a certain state have graduated from high
school. If 15 adults from the state are selected at random, what is the probability that 5 of them
have not graduated from high school?

32. In a certain region, 94 percent of the people have a certain characteristic in their blood.
Suppose a group of 45 people from the region are selected at random. Let the random variable B
represent the number of people in the sample without the characteristic. Random variable B
follows a binomial distribution with a mean of 2.7 people. Which of the following is the best
interpretation of the mean?
33. According to 2015 census data, 42.7 percent of Colorado residents were born in Colorado. If a
sample of 250 Colorado residents is selected at random, what is the standard deviation of the
number of residents in the sample who were born in Colorado?

34. A certain factory that manufactures office chairs has a quality control process to identify
defective chairs. The binomial random variable D represents the number of chairs in a sample of
chairs that are defective. The mean of D is 10 chairs and the standard deviation is 3 chairs. Based
on the distribution of D, which of the following would be an accurate interpretation of the value
0.1?

35. According to a survey about how workers get to work in Wyoming, 77 percent of workers get to
work by driving alone, 11 percent get to work by carpooling, 4 percent get to work by walking, and
8 percent get to work by other means of transportation. Suppose a sample of 200 Wyoming
workers is selected at random. Let the random variable D represent the number of workers in the
sample who get to work by driving alone. What is the expected value of D?

36. The transaction history at an electronic goods store indicates that 21 percent of customers
purchase the extended warranty when they buy an eligible item. Suppose customers who buy
eligible items are chosen at random, one at a time, until one is found who purchased the extended
warranty. Let the random variable X represent the number of customers it takes to find one who
purchased the extended warranty. Assume customers’ decisions on whether to purchase the
extended warranty are independent. Which of the following is closest to the probability that X>3;
that is, the probability that it takes more than 3 customers who buy an eligible item to find one who
purchased the extended warranty?
37. Of all the fish in a certain river, 20 percent are salmon. Once a year, people can purchase a
fishing license that allows them to catch up to 8 fish. Assume each catch is independent. Which of
the following represents the probability of needing to catch 8 fish to get the first salmon?

38. According to a recent survey, 47 percent of the people living in a certain region carry a certain
genetic trait. People from the region will be selected at random one at a time until someone is
found who carries the genetic trait. Let the random variable G represent the number of people
selected to find one person who carries the genetic trait. On average, how many people from the
region will need to be selected to find one person who carries the genetic trait?
39. In which of the following should the random variable X not be modeled with a geometric
distribution?

40. The random variable W has a geometric distribution with p=0.25. Approximately how far do
the values of W typically vary, on average, from the mean of the distribution?
Answer Key
1.E 2.E 3.D 4. E 5. B 6. A 7. A 8. E 9. E 10. A
11. A 12. A 13. C 14. E 15. E 16. D 17. B 18. C 19. D 20. E
21. C 22. B 23. D 24. D 25. A 26. B 27. C 28. C 29. D 30. A
31. D 32. A 33. B 34. E 35. E 36. C 37. D 38. E 39. D 40. D