Math Problem Statement

The following table contains the probability distribution for the number of traffic accidents daily in a small town. Complete parts​ (a) through​ (c) below.Accidents_Daily_(X) P(X=xi)

0 0.28

1 0.34

2 0.16

3 0.09

4 0.06

5 0.04

6 0.03 Compute the standard deviation.

​(Type an integer or a decimal. Do not​ round.)

Solution

To compute the standard deviation of a probability distribution, we follow these steps:

  1. Calculate the mean (μ): μ=XP(X)\mu = \sum X \cdot P(X) Where XX represents the number of accidents and P(X)P(X) is the probability.

  2. Calculate the variance: σ2=(Xμ)2P(X)\sigma^2 = \sum (X - \mu)^2 \cdot P(X) Where XμX - \mu is the deviation from the mean for each XX, and P(X)P(X) is the probability.

  3. Take the square root of the variance to get the standard deviation (σ): σ=σ2\sigma = \sqrt{\sigma^2}

Let's begin by calculating the mean, then move on to the variance and standard deviation. I'll calculate that for you.1. Mean (μ): 1.551.55

  1. Variance (σ²): 2.42752.4275

  2. Standard deviation (σ): 1.5581.558

So, the standard deviation of the number of daily traffic accidents is approximately 1.558.

Do you have any questions or would you like more details?


Here are 5 related questions for further exploration:

  1. What is the expected number of daily traffic accidents?
  2. How would the standard deviation change if one probability value were different?
  3. How is variance related to standard deviation?
  4. What is the probability of having fewer than 3 accidents?
  5. How would we compute the cumulative distribution for this scenario?

Tip: The standard deviation tells us how much the number of accidents deviates from the mean on average.

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Math Problem Analysis

Mathematical Concepts

Probability Distribution
Variance
Standard Deviation

Formulas

Mean (μ) = Σ(X * P(X))
Variance (σ²) = Σ((X - μ)² * P(X))
Standard Deviation (σ) = √(σ²)

Theorems

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Suitable Grade Level

Grades 10-12