You are on page 1of 16

## Business Mathematics I: Math 173

Sample Final Exam - Solutions

Name:
Print your name neatly. If you forget to write your name, or write so sloppy that I cant
read it, you can lose all of the points! Answer all the questions that you can. Circle your
All problems are worth 1 point each.
Do any 25 of the 26 problems. You may do all 26 if you like, but I will stop grading
after you have 25 problems correct. In other words, you cannot score more than 100%
on this exam. You must show how you arrived at the answer in order to receive any
credit for the problem. Problems for which only an answer is given with no
supporting work, will receive a score of zero for that problem.

1. _______ 6. _______ 11. _______ 16. _______ 21. _______

2. _______ 7. _______ 12. _______ 17. _______ 22. _______

3. _______ 8. _______ 13. _______ 18. _______ 23. _______

4. _______ 9. _______ 14. _______ 19. _______ 24. _______

5. _______ 10. _______ 15. _______ 20. _______ 25. _______

26. _______

STUDY GUIDE FOR FINAL EXAM :

The final exam is comprehensive. You should study all of the topics covered on
exams 1, 2, 3, and 4. The majority of problems will be taken from homework sets
1-10, however; some problems maybe new to you.

What homework sets should you review for this exam: Homework sets 1-10.

Warning: The actual exam will need not be the same questions, but the number of
problems, types of problems, and level of difficulty will be similar.

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 2 -
1. (Compound Interest: Future Value) What is the value of \$100 after 10 years at 5% interest,
compounded monthly? Round to the nearest dollar.
(a) 1056 (c) 569 (e) 730 (g) 297 (i) 953 (k) 9394

(b) 723 (d) 165 (f) 704 (h) 367 (j) 1 (l) none of the these

Solution: Given: P = 100, t = 10, r = .05, and n = 12. Want: F.
The discrete interest formula is
nt
n
r
P F

## + = 1 . Upon substituting the given values into the

formula we arrive at 165 7 . 164
12
05 .
1 100
) 10 ( 12
=

+ = F .

2. (Compound Interest: yield) What is the effective annual yield y for problem 3? (Use 3
decimal place accuracy).
(a) .307 (c) .517 (e) .023 (g) .051 (i) .027 (k) .039

(b) .024 (d) .039 (f) .105 (h) .002 (j) .095 (l) none of the these

Solution: The formula for effective annual yield in the case of discrete compounding is
1 1

+ =
n
n
r
y . Substituting the values from problem 3 yields 051 . 1
12
05 .
1
12

+ = y .

3. (Compound Interest: time to double investment) You want to invest P dollars. How long
will it take to double your investment at an annual interest rate of 10%, compounded

(a) 1 (c) 3 (e) 5 (g) 7 (i) 9 (k) 11

(b) 2 (d) 4 (f) 6 (h) 8 (j) 10 (l) none of the these

Solution: Given: F = 2P, r = .10, and compounding scheme is continuous. Want: .
double
t

Substituting these values into the compound interest formula yields
rt
Pe F =

) for (Solve 9 . 6
1 .
69 . ) 2 ln(

sides) both of log natural the (Take ) 2 ln(
P) by (divide 2 2
t
r
t
rt
e Pe P
rt rt
= =
=
= =

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 3 -
4. (Simple Interest) A total of \$12,000 is invested in two funds paying 9% and 11% simple
interest. If the interest for the first year is \$1,180, how much of the \$12,000 is invested at 9%?

Solution: Let be the interest earned on the investment at = .09, be the interest earned on
the investment at = .11, and = 1180 be the total interest from both investments.
1
I
1
r
2
I
2
r
2 1
I I +
Given: time year and P = \$12,000, we want to find x, the amount invested at \$12,000. 1 = t
Using Interest = Principal times rate times time with t = 1 we arrive at the equation
2 1
) ( r x P xr I + = . Substituting for , , I, and P we have an equation for x:
1
r
2
r

x
x
x
x x
02 . 120 1200
02 . ) 12000 ( 01 . ) 12000 ( 1 .
02 . ) 12000 ( 11 .
) 12000 ( 11 . 09 . 1180
+
+
=
+ =

Simplifying yields
.02x = 140 x = 7000.

5. (Excel-Function notation): Write
nt
n
r
P F

+ = 1 in Excel-function format.

Solution: F = P*(1+r/n)^(n*t)

6. (Excel-Function notation): Write f(x) = 5*x^2*Exp(x) in standard mathematical notation.

Solution:
x
e x x f
2
5 ) ( =

7. (Summation) Expand the following expression written in summation notation.
Do not attempt to evaluate the sum!

=
=
5
1
2
) (
i
i i
x f x

Solution: ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
5
2
5 4
2
4 3
2
3 2
2
2 1
2
1
5
1
2
x f x x f x x f x x f x x f x x f x
i
i i
+ + + + =

=

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 4 -
For problems 8-9 shade in the appropriate regions for the given diagram

8. 9.

C B A ) ( B A A B
C
=

10. (Basic Probability) You are promoting an outdoor concert for the coming Saturday (2 days
from now). It is a fact that weather records are fairly accurate over 3 day periods. Records
indicate that the probability of rain is 0.4, the probability of gale-force winds is 0.5, and the
probability of rain or gale-force winds is 0.8. What is the probability that it neither rains nor has
high winds?

(a) 0 (c) .2 (e) .4 (g) .6 (i) .8 (k) 1

(b) .1 (d) .3 (f) .5 (h) .7 (j) .9 (l) none of the these

Step 1: Write down the events. Let
R = event of rain
W = event of gale-force winds

Step 2: Write down the given information.
P(R) = .4, P(W) = .5, P(R or W) = = .8 ) ( W R P

Step 3: Write down what you want.
P(neither R nor W) = P(not R and not W)
= (convert words into mathematical symbols) ) (
C C
W R P
= (by De Morgans Law) ) ) ((
C
W R P
= ) ( 1 W R P
= 1 .8
= .2

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 5 -
11. (Basic Probability) You have just opened a restaurant and have applied for a liquor license
and a smoking permit (to allow smoking in a closed-off part of the restaurant). You are friends
with the city inspector and he has told you that based on past experience you have a 60% chance
of getting a liquor license, a 40% chance of getting a smoking permit, and a 20% chance of
getting both permits approved. What is the probability that you will be given exactly one of the
permits?

(a) 0 (c) .2 (e) .4 (g) .6 (i) .8 (k) 1

(b) .1 (d) .3 (f) .5 (h) .7 (j) .9 (l) none of the these

Step 1: Write down the events. Let
L = event of obtaining a Liquor license
S = event of obtaining a Smoking license

Step 2: Write down the given information.
P(L) = .6, P(S) = .4, P(L and S) = ) ( S L P = .2

Step 3: Write down what you want.
6 .
) 2 (. 2 4 . 6 .
) ( 2 ) ( ) (
)) ( ) ( ( )) ( ) ( (
sets) (disjoint ) ( ) ( )) ( ) ((
=
+ =
+ =
+ =
+ =
S L P S P L P
S L P S P S L P L P
L S P S L P L S S L P

The idea behind the solution:

P(Exactly one permit) = mass of the left moon + mass of the right moon =
. The Venn diagrams below show that these sets are disjoint

)) ( ) (( A B B A P

= ---

Notice that we must subtract B A out from the union, because we want to exclude the
possibility of being in both sets A and B. We can also write the probability of exactly one as

) ( ) ( )) ( ) (( B A P B A P A B B A P = .

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 6 -
12. (Independence) Consider three identical boxes that we shall refer to as box1, box2, and
box3. Each box contains 100 parts, one of which is defective. If you randomly choose one part
from each box, what is the probability of selecting 1 defective part and 2 non-defective parts?

Solution: We can select one defective part and 2 non-defective parts in 3 different ways:

C C
D D D
3 2 1
( the defective part comes from box 1)

C C
D D D
3 2 1
( the defective part comes from box 2)

3 2 1
D D D
C C
( the defective part comes from box 3)

We want the probability of selecting , or , or :
C C
D D D
3 2 1

C C
D D D
3 2 1

3 2 1
D D D
C C

, 0294 . ) 0098 (. 3
)) ( )( ( 3
) ( ) ( ) (
)) ( ) ( ) ((
2
3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
=
=
+ + =

C
C C C C C C
C C C C C C
D P D P
D D D P D D D P D D D P
D D D D D D D D D P

where the event D is short-hand for .
3 2 1
or , , D D D

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 7 -
13. (Conditional Probability) In a certain region of the country, atmospheric conditions are
classified into a finite number of categories, and weather records involving the events of rain and
gale-force winds are kept for each of these categories. Weather records indicate that under
category 1 atmospheric condition there is a 40% chance of rain, a 30% chance of gale-force
winds, and a 50% chance that it either rains or has gale-force winds. Suppose you wake up on a
day with category 1 conditions and find that it is raining. What is the probability of gale-force
winds? (Assume that you know the all of the categories and can classify them correctly.)

Solution: Step 1: Write down the events.

Let

=
=
winds force - gale of event the
rain of event the
W
R

Step 2: Write down what you know.

P(R) = .4, P(W) = .3, and 5 . ) ( = W R P .

Step 3: Write down what you want.

We are told that it is raining. Thus the event R has occurred. This means that we want to know
the probability of gale-force winds given that it is raining. In symbols, we want P(W | R) .

Step 4: Solve

Using the definition of conditional probability and P(R) = .4 leads to the following equation:

4 .
) (
) (
) (
) | (
W R P
R P
W R P
R W P

=

= . (Equation 1)

We cannot evaluate the expression on the right-hand side because we dont know ) ( W R P .
However, we can use the formula ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( W R P W P R P W R P + = to solve for ) ( W R P .
Substituting the values found in step 2 into the formula yields

. ) ( 3 . 4 . 5 . W R P + =

Solving for in the equation gives us ) ( W R P 2 . ) ( = W R P . For the last step, we must
substitute this value in to equation 1 to find the desired result.

2
1
4 .
2 .
4 .
) (
) | ( = =

=
W R P
R W P

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 8 -
14. (Bayes Theorem) An inexpensive blood test can be used to test whether or not a person has
a certain type of cancer. The test is not perfect: there is a 12% chance that a person who has the
cancer will falsely test negative, and a 15% chance that a person who does not have the cancer
will falsely test positive. More accurate (and more expensive) testing has shown that the cancer
is present in 8% of the tested population. What is the probability that a person who tests positive
has this type of cancer?

Solution:
Step 1: Define the events: let

= all people
C = the person has cancer
C
C = the person does not have cancer
+
T = the person tests positive for cancer

## T = the person tests negative for cancer

Notice that . If we assume that there were no inclusive tests, and if all of the
population were tested, then
+
= T T
C
) (
+
T and

## T would partition . However, the data suggests that we

use a different partition. The sets C and also partition the sample space. Because of the form
of the given information, we will use these sets as our partition.
C
C

Step 2: Write down the given information:
Given: . 08 . 0 ) ( = C P 92 . 08 . 0 1 ) ( = =
C
C P

From the data, we know the probability of testing positive or negative given that the events C
and have occurred. Thus based on the data, we should use C and to partition .
C
C
C
C
12 . 0 ) | ( =

C T P , 88 . 12 . 0 1 ) | ( 1 ) | ( = = =
+
C T P C T P
15 . 0 ) | ( =
+ C
C T P , 85 . 15 . 0 1 ) | ( 1 ) | ( = = =
+ C C
C T P C T P

Step 3: Write down what you are trying to solve for:

Want . We can compute this term using Bayes theorem with C and as our
partition.
) | (
+
T C P
C
C

3378 .
) 15 )(. 92 (. ) 88 )(. 08 (.
) 88 )(. 08 (.
) | ( ) ( ) | ( ) (
) | ( ) (
) | ( =
+
=
+
=
+ +
+
+
C C
C T P C P C T P C P
C T P C P
T C P

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 9 -
15. (Expected Value) Find the missing probability in the table below and use it to compute the
expected value of X.

x -2 -1 0 1 2
P(X=x) 0.2 0.1 .3 .2

Solution: Recall: The sum of all of the probabilities must be one. So if the range of X is
, then . Thus .2 + .1 + .3 + } , , , {
2 1 n
x x x K

=
= =
n
i
i
x X P
1
1 ) ( ) 1 ( = X P + .2 = 1. Solving for
yields = 1 .8 = .2. The expected value is ) 1 ( = X P ) 1 ( = X P = ) ( X E 1(.1) + 1(.2) = .1.

16. (Expected Value) The range of a random variable X is {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. Without knowing
any of the probabilities associated with the events X=x, determine which of the following values
be more than one). HINT: Remember the center of mass analogy for expected value (the weights
hanging from the stick). You cant do any simple calculations here. This is a problem where you
know it, or you dont.

(a.) 13 ( b.) 5.1 (c.) -0.1 (d.) 10 (e) 3.2

Solution: The expected value of X must lie somewhere between the minimum range value and
the maximum range value. If

Range of , where } , , , {
2 1 n
x x x X K =
n
x x x < < < L
2 1
, then
n
x X E x ) (
1
.

In our case, . The only possibility is (e).
6 1
5 ) ( 0 x X E x = =

Problems 17-18 (Intro to Random Variables) Consider the experiment of flipping a coin two
times. Let H be the event that a toss turns up heads and T be the event that a toss turns up tails.
To each outcome in the sample space we assign the number

X = number of heads in two tosses number of tails in two tosses.

Notice that X is a random variable.

17. Write down the sample space (the set of the four possible outcomes of the experiment).

Solution: {(H,H), (H,T), (T,H), (T,T)} =

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 10 -
18. Write down all the possible events X = x, and give the probabilities associated with each of
the events.

Solution: To find the range of X it helps to explicitly write out the formula for X. If the coin
toss results in two heads, then = 2 0 = 2. If the coin toss results in one head and one
tail in either order, then = = 1 1 = 0. . If the coin toss results in two
tails, then = 0 2 = 2. Thus the range of X is
)) , (( H H X
)) , (( T H X )) , (( H T X
)) , (( T T X } 2 , 0 , 2 { =
X
R . We now write out the
associated probabilities:
4
1
)) , (( ) 2 ( ) 2 ( = = = = T T P X P f
X
.

2
1
4
2
)}) , ( ), , ({( ) 0 ( ) 0 ( = = = = = H T T H P X P f
X
.

4
1
)) , (( ) 2 ( ) 2 ( = = = = H H P X P f
X

Notice that the sum of all of the probabilities is one: , where by convention we
take , , and .
1 ) (
3
1
= =

= i
i
x X P
2
1
= x 0
2
= x 2
3
= x

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 11 -
Problem 19-21: (Expected Value and Variance) Below is the graph of the probability
distribution of the random variable X . Notice that the range of } 3 , 2 , 1 , 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 { = X .

Probability Distribution
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
RV X-Val ues (RANGE of X)
p
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

19. Explicitly write out a table for the probability distribution: ) ( ) (
i i X
x X P x f = = .

Solution:

x -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
) (x f
X

.1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .1 .1

NOTE: the sum of all of the probabilities adds to one, as they must.

20. Compute the mean of the random variable X.

Solution: 0 ) 1 )(. 3 ( ) 1 )(. 2 ( ) 2 )(. 1 ( ) 2 )(. 0 ( ) 2 )(. 1 ( ) 1 )(. 2 ( ) 1 )(. 3 ( ) ( = + + + + + + = X E

21. Compute the variance and standard deviation of the random variable X.

Solution: First compute the variance.

3 ] 9 . 4 . 2 [. 2
)] 1 (. ) 3 ( ) 1 (. ) 2 ( ) 2 (. ) 1 [( 2
) 1 (. ) 3 ( ) 1 (. ) 2 ( ) 2 (. ) 1 ( ) 2 (. ) 0 ( ) 2 (. ) 1 ( ) 1 (. ) 2 ( ) 1 (. ) 3 ( ) (
2 2 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
= + + =
+ + =
+ + + + + + = X V

The standard deviation is

. 3 ) ( = = X V
X

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 12 -
22-23. Let X be a finite random variable with the following cumulative probability distribution:

<
<
<
=
x
x
x
x
x F
X
1 if 1
1 1 if 7 .
1 3 if 4 .
3 if 0
) (

22. What is the range of X ?

Solution: Range of X = {3, 1, 1}.

23. Find all of the values for . ) (x f
X

Solution: ; ; 4 . ) 3 ( =
X
f 3 . ) 1 ( =
X
f 3 . ) 1 ( =
X
f . Note: the sum of the probabilities is 1.

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 13 -
Problems 24 is a Binomial Distribution problem. You can solve these problems using the
Excel function BINOMDIST found under the insert function in Excel. Recall: The arguments of
the function BINOMDIST are:

x = Number_s = the number of successes in the trials,

n = Trials = the number of independent trails,

= Probability_s = the probability of success on each trail,

Cumulative = a logical value: for the cumulative distribution function, use TRUE; for the
probability mass function, use FALSE.

Thus, we can express the Binomial p.m.f. and c.d.f. as

=
=
) , , , ( Binomdist ) (
) , , , ( Binomdist ) (
TRUE n x x F
FALSE n x x f
X
X

Use this information to solve the following problems.

24. Roll a die 18 times. On each roll, define a success as the event that the face value is one. Find
the probability of getting at least 3 ones in 18 rolls of the die.

Solution:

Let . Then

=
=
=
6 / 1
18
3

n
x

= = = < = ) 2 ( 1 ) 2 ( 1 ) 3 ( 1 ) 3 (
X
F X P X P X P 1- Binomdist(2, 18, 1/6, True) = 0.597346

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 14 -
Formulas for uniform and exponential distributions that you might find useful:

If X has a uniform distribution, then

a b
a x
x X P

= ) ( (Formula u1)

a b
x b
a b
a x
a b
a b
a b
a x
X P x X P

## = = > 1 ) 1 ( 1 ) ( (Formula u2)

a b
c d
a b
a c
a b
a d
c F d F d X c P
X X

= = ) ( ) ( ) ( (Formula u3)

If X has an exponential distribution, then

x
Exp x X P 1 ) ( (Formula e1)

= >

x
Exp x X P ) ( (the survival function) (Formula e2)
Proof: For any range value x we have
) ( 1 ) ( x X P x X P = > (by complementation)
(by definition of the cumulative distribution) ) ( 1 x F
X
=

x
Exp (by definition of the exponential function: see class notes)
NOTE: (since X is a continuous random variable) ) ( ) ( x X P x X P > =

=
=

d
Exp
c
Exp
c
Exp
d
Exp
c F d F d X c P
X X
1 1
) ( ) ( ) (
(Formula e3)

The three most important relations for both discrete and continuous random variables are:

1. ) ( ) ( x F x X P
X
=
2. ) ( 1 ) ( x F x X P
X
= >
3. ) ( ) ( ) ( c F d F d x c P
X X
= <

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 15 -

Property 1 is just the definition of the cumulative distribution function.

Property 2 follows from the fact that ) ( 1 ) ( x X P x X P = > . The probability is
some times expresses as the survival function
) ( x X P >
) ( ) ( x X P x S > = since if we think of X as time
until death or failure, then is the probability that the individual or part survives
to at least time x.
) ( ) ( x X P x S > =

Property 3 is more general than it first appears to be. For example, for a continuous random
variable the probability that X takes on any particular value x is zero. That is, 0 ) ( = = x X P for
any x. It then follow that
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( c F d F d x c P d x c P d x c P d x c P
X X
= = < = < < = < .

Thus, given the three properties above and the formulas for the cumulative distribution
function , you can solve any of the following problems by manipulating the
definitions to find the formula for the desired probability.
) (x F
X

25. (uniform distributions) A 100-ft water pipe runs from your toilet to the alley where it
connects with the citys water line. 20 feet of the pipe lies under your house. By law, you are
responsible for repairing any leaks in the pipe. To fix a leak under your house is very expensive.
Provided that your house is well constructed, a leak is equally likely to occur anywhere along the
pipe. If the pipe springs a leak, what is the probability that it is under your house?

Solution: The location of the break in your pipe can be modeled with a uniform distribution. Let
X be the location of the leak. Then X is a uniform random variable with a = 0 and b = 100, with
a = 0 denoting the starting position under your toilet, and b = 100 denoting the end of the pipe
that connects with the citys waterline. We want to calculate the probability of a leak in the first
20 feet of the pipe (the part of the pipe under your house). This is given by
5
1
100
20
) 20 ( ) 20 ( = = =
X
F X P .

- Business Mathematics I, Sample Final Exam: page 16 -
26. (exponential distributions) A new building has just opened on campus. Unfortunately, the
administration has forgotten to budget for replacement light bulbs. The lifetime of a bulb has an
exponential distribution with a mean of 2000 hours. If there are 500 bulbs in the building, how
long will it be before 100 of them have burned out?

Solution: Let X = waiting time until the bulbs burn out (out of 100%). For example, X =20 is
the time that 20% of the bulbs have burn out. We are given that ) ( X E = = 2000 hours. We
want the time x at which 100 bulbs burn out. This is equivalent to the time that it takes for 100
out of the 500 bulbs to burn out, or 1/5 of the total numberof bulbs. Thus, we want the time x
such that

5
1
) ( = x X P .

This is equivalent to the question: at what time will
5
4
of the bulbs still be working (surviving)?
That is, we want x such that
5
4
) ( = > x X P .

Using the definition of the exponential distribution gives
5
4
2000
) ( =

= >
x
Exp
x
Exp x X P

.
Solving for x yields the desired time:

5
4
2000
=

x
Exp

5
4
ln
2000
ln
x
Exp (taking the natural log of both sides)

=
5
4
ln
2000
x
(using the property of exponents ) a e a e
a
= = ) ln( ) ln(

500
4
1
2000
4
1
1 ln 2000
4
5
ln 2000
5
4
ln 2000 =

+ =

= x hours.
{"found_math": false, "script_math_tex": 0, "script_math_asciimath": 0, "math_annotations": 0, "math_alttext": 0, "mathml": 0, "mathjax_tag": 0, "mathjax_inline_tex": 0, "mathjax_display_tex": 0, "mathjax_asciimath": 0, "img_math": 0, "codecogs_latex": 0, "wp_latex": 0, "mimetex.cgi": 0, "/images/math/codecogs": 0, "mathtex.cgi": 0, "katex": 0, "math-container": 0, "wp-katex-eq": 0, "align": 0, "equation": 0, "x-ck12": 0, "texerror": 0}