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Adults should get a booster dose of the Td (tetanus and diphtheria) vaccine every 10 years. Suppose the length of time (in years) that the vaccine provides protection has an exponential distribution with a mean of 15 years. (a) Find the value of λ for this distribution. (b) Find the probability that a randomly selected person still has vaccineinduced immunity 10 years after receiving their shot. (c) Suppose two randomly selected people receive their booster on the same day. What is the probability that both individuals have vaccine-induced immunity five years after receiving their booster?4

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Final answer:

For the given exponential distribution with a mean of 15 years, the value of λ is found to be 1/15. The probability that a randomly selected person still has vaccine-induced immunity 10 years after receiving their shot is e^(-2/3). The probability that both individuals have vaccine-induced immunity five years after receiving their booster is e^(-2/3).

Step-by-step explanation:

(a) To find the value of λ for the exponential distribution, we need to use the mean of 15 years. The mean of an exponential distribution is equal to 1/λ. So, 1/λ = 15, which means λ = 1/15.

(b) The probability that a randomly selected person still has vaccine-induced immunity 10 years after receiving their shot can be found using the exponential distribution. The probability can be calculated using the formula P(X > t) = e^(-λt), where X is the length of time of vaccine-induced immunity and t is the given time. Plugging in the values, we get P(X > 10) = e^(-1/15 * 10) = e^(-2/3).

(c) To find the probability that both individuals have vaccine-induced immunity five years after receiving their booster, we can use the same formula as in part (b) for each individual. The probability for one individual is P(X > 5) = e^(-1/15 * 5) = e^(-1/3). Since the events are independent, the probability that both individuals have vaccine-induced immunity is the product of their individual probabilities, which is e^(-1/3) * e^(-1/3) = e^(-2/3).

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