A service engineer receives on average seven calls in a 24-hour period. Calculate the probability that in a 24 -hour period the engineer receives (a) seven calls (b) eight calls (c) six calls (d) fewer than three calls

Short Answer

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Question: Calculate the probabilities of a service engineer receiving 7 calls, 8 calls, 6 calls, and fewer than 3 calls in a 24-hour period, given that the engineer receives, on average, 7 calls in that time frame. Answer: To calculate these probabilities, use the Poisson Distribution formula as follows: 1. Probability of receiving 7 calls: P(X = 7) = (e^(-7) * 7^7) / 7! Evaluate this expression to obtain the probability of receiving seven calls. 2. Probability of receiving 8 calls: P(X = 8) = (e^(-7) * 7^8) / 8! Evaluate this expression to obtain the probability of receiving eight calls. 3. Probability of receiving 6 calls: P(X = 6) = (e^(-7) * 7^6) / 6! Evaluate this expression to obtain the probability of receiving six calls. 4. Probability of receiving fewer than 3 calls: P(X < 3) = P(X = 0) + P(X = 1) + P(X = 2) Calculate the probabilities for k=0, 1, and 2 and add them together: P(X = 0) = (e^(-7) * 7^0) / 0! P(X = 1) = (e^(-7) * 7^1) / 1! P(X = 2) = (e^(-7) * 7^2) / 2! Evaluate these expressions and add them together to obtain the probability of receiving fewer than three calls.

Step by step solution

01

(Step 1: Understand the Poisson Distribution Formula)

The Poisson Distribution formula is used to calculate the probability of a number of events happening in a fixed interval of time or space, given that the events are rare or infrequent. The formula is given by: P(X = k) = (e^(-λ) * λ^k) / k! Where: P(X = k) is the probability of exactly k events happening, λ (lambda) is the average number of events (in this case, 7 calls), k is the number of events we want to calculate the probability for, e is the mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828. We will use this formula to compute the probabilities for each scenario.
02

(Step 2: Calculate the probability of seven calls)

Using the Poisson Distribution formula, we will compute the probability for the engineer receiving seven calls (k=7). We plug the values into the formula: P(X = 7) = (e^(-7) * 7^7) / 7! Evaluate this expression to obtain the probability of receiving seven calls.
03

(Step 3: Calculate the probability of eight calls)

In the same way, we will compute the probability for the engineer receiving eight calls (k=8): P(X = 8) = (e^(-7) * 7^8) / 8! Evaluate this expression to obtain the probability of receiving eight calls.
04

(Step 4: Calculate the probability of six calls)

Next, we will compute the probability for the engineer receiving six calls (k=6): P(X = 6) = (e^(-7) * 7^6) / 6! Evaluate this expression to obtain the probability of receiving six calls.
05

(Step 5: Calculate the probability of fewer than three calls)

To compute the probability of the engineer receiving fewer than three calls (k=0, 1, 2), we need to calculate the probabilities for each value of k and then add them together: P(X = 0) = (e^(-7) * 7^0) / 0! P(X = 1) = (e^(-7) * 7^1) / 1! P(X = 2) = (e^(-7) * 7^2) / 2! P(X < 3) = P(X = 0) + P(X = 1) + P(X = 2) Evaluate these expressions and add them together to obtain the probability of receiving fewer than three calls.

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