A box contains 1 red, 1 blue and yellow discs, where . Two discs are randomly drawn from the box, without replacement. The random variable is the number of yellow discs drawn from the box.
- (i)
Show that . Hence find the probability distribution of .
- (ii)
Show that , where is a constant to be determined.
- (iii)
Hence, find , giving your answer in the form where is a quadratic polynomial to be determined.
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Worked solution
8(i)
1. Show the probability of drawing exactly 1 yellow disc by considering the two possible sequences of draws.
There are yellow discs and non-yellow discs (1 red, 1 blue), making a total of discs.
2. Find the probability of drawing 0 yellow discs.
3. Find the probability of drawing 2 yellow discs.
4. Present the probability distribution of $Y$ in a table.
The possible values for are and .
The probability distribution of is:
8(ii)
1. Apply the expectation formula using the probability distribution of $Y$.
From part (i), the required probabilities for the distribution of are and .
Apply the expectation formula :
2. Simplify the expression to show the given form and determine $A$.
Combine the fractions and factorise the numerator to simplify:
Cancel the common factor :
Comparing this result with the given form , we obtain .
8(iii)
1. Use the probability distribution from part (i) to calculate E(Y²).
From the probability distribution found in part (i), .
2. Apply the formula for variance using E(Y) from part (ii).
From part (ii), the constant is , so .
Using the formula for variance:
3. Simplify the expression to the required algebraic form.
Find a common denominator of to combine the fractions:
Thus, , which is a quadratic polynomial as required.
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