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The U.S. Department of Transportation maintains statistics for mishandled bags per 1,000 airline passengers. In September 2016, Delta mishandled 1.35 bags per 1,000 passengers. What is the probability that in the next 1,000 passengers, Delta will have no mishandled bags? at least one mishandled bag? at least two mishandled bags?

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Answer:

The given probability of Delta mishandling a bag is 1.35 per 1,000 passengers. This means the probability of not mishandling a bag is 1 - 1.35/1000 = 0.99865.

The probability of no mishandled bags in the next 1,000 passengers is:

P(no mishandled bags) = (0.99865)^1000 ≈ 0.716

The probability of at least one mishandled bag in the next 1,000 passengers is the complement of no mishandled bags:

P(at least one mishandled bag) = 1 - P(no mishandled bags) ≈ 0.284

To find the probability of at least two mishandled bags, we can use the binomial distribution formula:

P(at least two mishandled bags) = 1 - P(0 mishandled bags) - P(1 mishandled bag)

where P(0 mishandled bags) and P(1 mishandled bag) can be calculated using the binomial probability formula:

P(k successes in n trials) = (n choose k) * p^k * (1-p)^(n-k)

where n is the number of trials, k is the number of successes, p is the probability of success, and (n choose k) is the binomial coefficient.

For P(0 mishandled bags), we have n = 1000, k = 0, and p = 0.00135:

P(0 mishandled bags) = (1000 choose 0) * 0.00135^0 * 0.99865^1000 ≈ 0.716

For P(1 mishandled bag), we have n = 1000, k = 1, and p = 0.00135:

P(1 mishandled bag) = (1000 choose 1) * 0.00135^1 * 0.99865^999 ≈ 0.242

Therefore,

P(at least two mishandled bags) = 1 - 0.716 - 0.242 ≈ 0.042

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