Exam 2: Friday 2/19 through Tues 2/23
Bring for Exam: Calculator (no cell phones are permitted)
Format: multiple-choice, T/F, calculation
Topics by chapter:
This list is meant to be a guide for preparing for the exam. Just because something is
not listed here DOES NOT mean you are not responsible for it. If we covered it in class
it might be on the exam.
Ch4: Probability: terminology: sample space, experiment, outcome, event,
independent, complementary, mutually exclusive. Use Probability rules to compute
probability for very small experiments only: one or 2 turns to the experiment (roll a die,
choose a marble from a box, flip 2 coins, choose a person, choose 2 people. Compute
probabilities from a contingency table, including showing independence.
Ch5: Discrete random variables: definitions of probability distribution, discrete random
variable, use a distribution to compute probability, find mean/expected value, identify a
variable as binomial and use binomial table to find probability; compute mean and
standard deviation when x is binomial
Ch6: Normal distributions: definition of normal distribution and properties, standard
normal distribution, z-score (computation and interpretation), use of z-table, find
probability for a normal variable, find an x-value for a specified area.
A few tips:
1. Practice without the book. Write a problem down and then try to solve it using only
the formula sheet…if you can’t solve it at home, you won’t solve it on the test.
2. Contingency table problems (ch 4) and discrete RV problems (ch 5.2 & 3), should be
the easiest to solve…all the information is sitting right in front of you; you just have to
use it correctly. Identifying when to use the z-table should also be easy. The problems
has to say x is normal in order for the z-table to apply. That only leaves the binomial.
Any problem that is too big for a tree, does not have a contingency table, does not have
a probability distribution in it, and does not say normal is probably binomial – identify
your n and p and use your binomial table to solve it.
3. Learn your definitions! Many of you stated after the last exam that you didn’t study
your definitions enough…there is no such thing as reading definitions too many times.
The following formulas will be provided:
P( A or B)  P( A)  P( B)  P( A and B) , P( A )  1  P( A) , P( A | B) 
  E ( X )   x P( x)
  E ( X )  np   npq z 
x

P( A and B)
, P( A and B)  P( A) * P( B | A)
P( B)
x    z