6-32E

a.

From information given, the mean rate at 911 calls arrive at Boston Fire Department is as
follows:

1 /   1.6

Where,  is the mean time between 911 calls to the Boston Fire Department. It is
required to find  .

Therefore,  is as follows:

1

1.6
= 0.625

Therefore, the answer is: 0.625 .

b.

The exponential probability function is as follows:

x
1 

f ( x)  e


Where,  is expected value or mean number of occurrences over a specified period.

The probability density function is as follows:

Figure 6b-32E probability density function.

c.

From information given, the average time between 911 calls to Boston Fire Department is
as follows:

  0.625

It is required to know, probability that there will be less than 1 hour between 911 calls.

Type the formula =EXPONDIST(0,1/0.625,TRUE) in cell numbered A1 in Excel. This

would yield resultant output to P( x  1) . The screen shot is as follows:

Figure 6c-32E P( x  1) .

Therefore, the answer is: 0.0000 .

d.

From information given, the average time between 911 calls to Boston Fire Department is
as follows:

  0.625

It is required to know, probability that there will be 30 minutes or more between 911
calls.

Type the formula =1-EXPONDIST(0.4,1/0.625,TRUE) in cell numbered A1 in Excel.

This would yield resultant output to P( x  0.5) . The screen shot is as follows:

Figure 6c-32E P( x  0.5) .

Therefore, the answer is: 0.5273 .

e.

From information given, the average time between 911 calls to Boston Fire Department is
as follows:

  0.625

It is required to know, probability that there will be more than 5 minutes but less than 20
minutes between 911 calls.

Compute P  x  20  and P  x  5 , using EXPONDIST function. Then subtract the

smaller one from the larger one.

Figure 6e-32E P  5  x  20 .

Therefore, the answer is: 0.0003 .