Science:Math Exam Resources/Courses/MATH101 A/April 2025/Question 03 (a)

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MATH101 A April 2025

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Other MATH101 A Exams

• April 2024 •

Question 03 (a)
A continuous random variable $X$ has probability density function (PDF) ${\begin{aligned}f(x)={\begin{cases}2x&{\text{if}}\ 0\leq x\leq 1,\\0&{\text{otherwise}}.\end{cases}}\end{aligned}}$ Imagine the trial being repeated many times. In what percentage of trials do you expect to find $X\leq {\frac {1}{2}}$ ? (Make sure to give your answer as a percentage, i.e. a number between $0$ and $100$ .)

Make sure you understand the problem fully: What is the question asking you to do? Are there specific conditions or constraints that you should take note of? How will you know if your answer is correct from your work only? Can you rephrase the question in your own words in a way that makes sense to you?

If you are stuck, check the hint below. Consider it for a while. Does it give you a new idea on how to approach the problem? If so, try it!

Hint
Recall that the area under the curve of the PDF on an interval is simply the probability that the random variable will take a value in that interval.

Checking a solution serves two purposes: helping you if, after having used the hint, you still are stuck on the problem; or if you have solved the problem and would like to check your work.

If you are stuck on a problem: Read the solution slowly and as soon as you feel you could finish the problem on your own, hide it and work on the problem. Come back later to the solution if you are stuck or if you want to check your work.
If you want to check your work: Don't only focus on the answer, problems are mostly marked for the work you do, make sure you understand all the steps that were required to complete the problem and see if you made mistakes or forgot some aspects. Your goal is to check that your mental process was correct, not only the result.

Solution
To compute the probability that $X\leq {\frac {1}{2}}$ we integrate from $0$ to ${\frac {1}{2}}$ , ${\begin{aligned}\int _{0}^{\frac {1}{2}}f(x)dx=\int _{0}^{\frac {1}{2}}2xdx=x^{2}\|_{0}^{1/2}={\frac {1}{4}}=25\%.\end{aligned}}$ Alternatively, one could sketch $y=2x$ and identify the area under the line from $x=0$ to $x={\frac {1}{2}}$ as a triangle of base ${\frac {1}{2}}$ and height $1$ , and so an area of ${\begin{aligned}{\frac {bh}{2}}={\frac {1/2\cdot 1}{2}}={\frac {1}{4}}=25\%.\end{aligned}}$