Applet Exercises
399
To do these exercises, go to www.macmillanhighered.com/fapp10e.
1. When we toss a coin, experience shows that the probability (long-term proportion) of a head is close to . Suppose now that we toss the coin repeatedly until we get a head. What is the probability that the first head comes up in an odd number of tosses (1, 3, 5, and so on)? Use the Probability applet to estimate this probability. Set the probability of heads to 0.5. Toss coins one at a time until the first head appears. Do this 50 times (click “Reset” after each trial). What is your estimate of the probability that the first head appears on an odd toss?
2. The table of random digits (Table 7.1, page 298) was produced by a random mechanism that gives each digit probability 0.1 of being a 0.
3. One of the few players to have a better field goal percentage than free throw percentage, basketball star Shaquille O’Neal made about half (53%) of his free throws in his 21-year NBA career. Use the Probability applet to simulate 100 free throws shot independently by a player who has probability 0.53 of making each shot. (Toss 50, 50, without clicking “Reset.”)
4. The central limit theorem is the basis for the confidence intervals that have been discussed in this chapter and in Chapter 7 (page 321). Next, you will use the Central Limit Theorem applet to generate individual data values from two different continuous probability models: the uniform probability model and the exponential probability model. You will find data from these distributions don’t look very normal, and then you will take samples of size 30 and generate means from the samples.