Flawed Pentium computer chip.In October 1994, a flawwas discovered in the Pentium microchip installed in personalcomputers. The chip produced an incorrect result when dividing two numbers. Intel, the manufacturer of the Pentium chip, initially announced that such an error wouldoccur once in 9 billion divisions, or “once in every 27,000 years” for a typical user; consequently, it did not immediately offer to replace the chip.

Depending on the procedure, statistical software packages (e.g., Minitab) may perform an extremely large number of divisions to produce the required output. For heavy users of the software, 1 billion divisions over a short time frame is not unusual. Will the flawed chip be a problem for a heavy Minitab user? [Note:Two months after the flaw was discovered, Intel agreed to replace all Pentium chips free of charge.]

Short Answer

Expert verified

The probability is 0.111 and it is fairly common.

Step by step solution

01

Important formula

The formula for probability isP=favourableoutcomestotaloutcomes

02

Find that will the flawed chip be a problem for a heavy Minitab user.

Intel Corporationcommitted to replacing al Pentium chips free of charge two months after the error was detected. Then

P(U)=19=0.111

Therefore, the probability is 0.111 and it is fairly common.

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a. Show that the denominator of Cardan’s calculation, 216, is correct. [Hint: Knowing that there are 6 possible outcomes for each die, show that the total number of possible outcomes from tossing three fair dice is 216.]

b. One way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with the outcome {1,1, 1}. How many possible ways can this outcome be obtained?

c. Another way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with an outcome that includes at least one die with a 3. First, find the number of outcomes that do not result in a 3 on any of the dice. [Hint: If none of the dice can result in a 3, then there are only 5 possible outcomes for each die.] Now subtract this result from 216 to find the number of outcomes that include at least one 3.

d. A third way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with the outcome {1, 2, 1}, where the order of the individual die outcomes does not matter. How many possible ways can this outcome be obtained?

e. A fourth way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with the outcome {1, 2, 2}, where the order of the individual die outcomes does not matter. How many possible ways can this outcome be obtained?

f. A fifth way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with the outcome {1, 2, 4}, where the order of the individual die outcomes does not matter. How many possible ways can this outcome be obtained? [Hint:There are 3 choices for the first die, 2 for the second, and only 1 for the third.]

g. A sixth way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with the outcome {1, 2, 5}, where the order of the individual die outcomes does not matter. How many possible ways can this outcome be obtained? [See Hintfor part f.]

h. A final way to obtain a “Fratilli” is with the outcome {1, 2, 6}, where the order of the individual die outcomes does not matter. How many possible ways can this outcome be obtained? [See Hintfor part f.]

i. Sum the results for parts b–h to obtain the total number of possible “Fratilli” outcomes.

j. Compute the probability of obtaining a “Fratilli” outcome. Compare your answer with Cardan’s.

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