MIT6 042JF10 FNL 2006 Sol
MIT6 042JF10 FNL 2006 Sol
MIT6 042JF10 FNL 2006 Sol
Final
Final 2
Problem 1. [8 points] Prove that for all n ∈ N, the following identity holds
n
� n(n + 1)(2n + 1)
i2 = .
i=1
6
for all n ∈ N
Base case (n = 1):
1(1 + 1)(2 + 1) 6
= = 1 = 12
6 6
Inductive step: Assume P (n), we need to show that P (n + 1) holds.
n+1
� �n
i2 = ( i2 ) + (n + 1)2
i=0 i=0
n(n + 1)(2n + 1)
= + (n + 1)2
6
n(n + 1)(2n + 1) + 6(n + 1)2
=
6
(n + 1)(2n2 + n + 6n + 6)
=
6
2
(n + 1)(2n + 7n + 6)
=
6
(n + 1)(n + 2)(2n + 3)
=
6
(n + 1)((n + 1) + 1)(2(n + 1) + 1)
=
6
⇒ P (n + 1)
as required.
We have shown that P (n) ⇒ P (n + 1). Thus, P (n) is true for all n ∈ N.
Final 3
Problem 2. [20 points] Coin-Flip is a 2 player game. Each player wins with probability
exactly 0.5. There are no ties.
n people are playing a Coin-Flip tournament. Every person plays a Coin-Flip game
with every other person exactly once. Thus everybody plays n − 1 games. The outcomes
of all the games are mutually independent of one another.
We say that the tournament is a success if for every i ∈ {0, 1, . . . , n − 1}, there is exactly
one player, which we will refer to as pi , with exactly i wins.
(a) [10 points] Prove that if the tournament is a success, then for any integers j, k
with 0 ≤ k < j ≤ n − 1, pj defeats pk .
Solution. We prove it by induction on k. The inductive hypothesis P (k) is that for
all 0 ≤ � ≤ k and all � < j < n, pj defeats p� .
The base case is k = 0. Now p0 loses all n − 1 games. Thus, for every j > 0, pj
defeats p0 . Suppose P (k) and let us show P (k + 1). Since the tournament is a sucess,
pk+1 wins exactly k + 1 games. Because P (k) holds, pk+1 defeats the k + 1 players
p0 , p1 , . . . , pk . Thus, for all k + 1 < j < n, pj defeats pk+1 . So P (k + 1) holds.
(b) [6 points] What is the probability that the tournament will be a success?
Solution. Let π be a permutation of {0, 2, . . . , n − 1} and define the event Eπ to be
that the tournament is a success with players pi winning exactly i games, where pi
is the π(i)th player. Then the events Eπ and Eσ are disjoint for π �= σ. Moreover, by
symmetry, Pr[Eπ ] = Pr[Eσ ] for all permutations σ, π. Let E be the event the tourna
ment is a success. Since the events are disjoint,
�
Pr[E] = Pr[Eπ ] = n! Pr[Eσ ],
π
In total,
� �(n2 )
1
Pr[E] = n! .
2
(c) [4 points] Show that your answer to part (b) is o(1). Solution. We have,
� �(n2 ) � �(n2 ) � �(n2 )−n log n
n1 n log n 1 1
Pr[E] ≤ n =2 = .
2 2 2
Final 4
Now, n2 − n log n = Ω(n2 ), so there is a positive constant c such that for sufficiently
� �
which for sufficiently large n, is clearly less than any positive constant, and thus is
o(1).
Final 5
Problem 3. [8 points] A person is passing time by advancing a token on the set of natural
numbers. In the beginning, a token is placed on 0.
The person keeps playing moves forever. Each move proceeds as follows:
1. First the person tosses a fair coin (with heads/tails equally likely).
2. Suppose the token is currently placed on n. If heads came up, then the person moves
the token to n + 3, otherwise he moves the token to n + 4.
For each n ∈ N, let En be the event ”There was a move on which the token landed on
n”. Let pn = Pr[En ].
Find a recurrence relation for pn . You do not need to solve the recurrence, but you should
specify the boundary conditions that would be necessary to find a solution to the recurrence.
Solution. For all n ≥ 4,
1 1
pn = pn−3 + pn−4 ,
2 2
with boundary conditions p0 = 1, p1 = 0, p2 = 0, p3 = 1/2.
Final 6
Problem 4. [10 points] Exactly 1/5th of the people in a town have Beaver Fever© .
There are two tests for Beaver Fever, TEST1 and TEST2. When a person goes to a doctor
to test for Beaver Fever, with probability 2/3 the doctor conducts TEST1 on him and with
probability 1/3 the doctor conducts TEST2 on him.
When TEST1 is done on a person, the outcome is as follows:
• If the person has the disease, the result is positive with probability 3/4.
• If the person does not have the disease, the result is positive with probability 1/4.
• If the person has the disease, the result is positive with probability 1.
• If the person does not have the disease, the result is positive with probability 1/2.
A person is picked uniformly at random from the town and is sent to a doctor to test
for Beaver Fever. The result comes out positive. What is the probability that the person
has the disease?
Solution. Let B be the event that the person has BLAH. Let T 1 be the event that the
person is tested with test1. Let T 2 be the event that the person is tested with test2. Let P
be the event that the test comes out positive.
A tree diagram is worked out below with the given information:
Final 7
3/4
1/10
+
1/5 _
BLAH 1/4
1/30
+ 3/4 2/15
2/3 _
No BLAH 4/5 1/4
Test1 2/5
1 1/15
+
1/5 _
BLAH 0
Test2 0
1/3 1/2 2/15
+
No BLAH _
4/5 1/2
2/15
The probability that a person has BLAH, given that the test comes out positive is:
Pr {B | S} = Pr {B | T 1 ∩ P } · Pr (T 1) + Pr {B | T 2 ∩ P } · Pr (T 2)
Pr (B ∩ T 1 ∩ P ) Pr (B ∩ T 2 ∩ P )
= · Pr (T 1) + · Pr (T 2)
Pr (T 1 ∩ P ) Pr (T 2 ∩ P )
Pr (D ∩ T 1 ∩ P )
= ¯ ∩ T 1 ∩ P · Pr (T 1) +
� �
Pr (D ∩ T 1 ∩ P ) + Pr D
Pr (D ∩ T 2 ∩ P )
� � · Pr (T 2)
Pr (D ∩ T 2 ∩ P ) + Pr D̄ ∩ T 2 ∩ P
1 1
10 2 15 1
= 1 2 · + 1 2 ·
10
+ 15
3 15
+ 15
3
5
=
13
Final 9
Problem 5. [10 points] Two identical complete decks of cards, each with 52 cards, have
been mixed together. A hand of 5 cards is picked uniformly at random from amongst all
subsets of exactly 5 cards.
(a) [5 points] What is the probability that the hand has no identical cards (i.e., cards
with the same suit and value. For example, the hand �Q♥, 5♠, 6♠, 8♣, Q♥� has iden
tical cards.)? We can calculate this probability by computing
There are 104 cards. There are 5 cards in a hand. Order does not matter. The total
number of possible hands is:
�104�
5
There are 52 possible card faces, and we can choose 5 of them if no identical cards
are allowed. Additionally, each card can be from either deck 1 or deck 2. Therefore
the number of hands with no identical cards, chosen from 2 decks is:
� �
52
· 25
5
(b) [5 points] What is the probability that the hand has exactly one pair of identical
cards? This can be solved by a similar approach. A hand of this type can be distin
guished by the face (suit and value) of the repeated card, and by the faces of the 3
non-repeated
� � cards. There are 52 possible values for the face of the repeated card.
There are 513
possible faces for the non-repeated cards, since none of these can be
repeated.
� � Each of these could come from either the 1st deck or the 2nd deck. There
are 104
5
possible hands, as before. So the probability of getting a hand with exactly
one pair of identical cards is:
52 · 51
� � 3
3
·2
�104�
5
Final 10
Problem 6. [28 points] Scores for a final exam are given by picking an integer uniformly
at random from the set {50, 51, . . . , 97, 98}. The scores of all 128 students in the class are
assigned in this manner. For parts (a), (b), (c) and (d) you may NOT assume that these
scores are assigned independently. For parts (e), (f), (g) and (h) you MAY assume that
these scores are assigned independently.
1
�128
Let S1 , . . . , S128 be their scores. Let S = 128 ( i=1 Si ) be the average score of the class.
(d) [5 points] Improve your previous bound by using the fact that the minimum
possible score is 50. Prove that
12
Pr[S ≥ 88] ≤ .
19
Make no independence assumptions.
(e) [4 points] For the remaining problems, assume that all the scores are assigned
mutually independently. Use Problem 1 of this final to find V ar[Si ].
Final 12
1
Pr[S ≤ 69] ≤ .
16
Final 13
Solution.
50+98
(a) We simply take the average of the numbers from 50 to 98. Thus, E[Si ] = 2
=
74.
E[S] 74 37
Pr[S ≥ 88] ≤ = = .
88 88 44
(d) We define a random variable T = S − 50, and thus E[T ] = E[S] − 50 = 24. Now
we just apply Markov’s inequality:
E[T ] 24 12
Pr[S ≥ 88] = Pr[T ≥ 38] ≤ = = .
38 38 19
(e) We define Ti = Si − 50.
48
1 � 2 1 (48)(49)(97)
V ar[Si ] = V ar[Ti ] = E[Ti2 ]−E2 [Ti ] =( i )−E2 [Ti ] = −(24)2 = 776−576 = 200.
49 i=0 49 6
(f)
128
1 � 1 2 V ar[S1 ] 200 25
V ar[S] = V ar[ ( Si )] = ( ) (128 ∗ V ar[S1 ]) = = = .
128 i=1 128 128 128 16
(g) The standard deviation of S is simply the square root of the variance of S:
�
25 5
σS = = .
16 4
1 1
Pr[S ≤ 69] ≤ Pr[|S − 74| ≤ 5] = Pr[|S − E[S]| ≤ 4 ∗ σS ] ≤ = .
42 16
Final 14
Problem 7. [16 points] 1000 files F1 , F2 , . . . , F1000 have just reached a disk manager for
writing onto disk. Each file’s size is between 0M B and 1M B. The sum of all files’ sizes is
400M B.
The disk manager has 4 disks under its control. For each file Fi , the disk manager
chooses a disk uniformly at random from amongst the 4 disks, and Fi is written to that
disk. The choices of disk for the different files are mutually independent.
(a) [2 points] What is the expected number of files that will be written to the first
disk?
We can use indicator variables. For each file, Pi = 1 if Fi is written to the first disk.
The chance of an individual file being written to the first disk is 1/4. By linearity of
expectation, the expected number of files written to the first disk is the sum of the
expected values of Pi ’s. The expected value of each indicator variable is 1/4, and
�(
i=1 1000)1/4 = 250, so the expected number of files to be written to the first disk
is 250.
(b) [2 points] What is the expected number of bytes written on the first disk?
We can say that each file Fi has bit size Si . Each file has a 1/4 chance of being written
do the first disk. Therefore, by linearity of expectation, the expected number of bytes
written to the first disk is the sum of the expected number of bytes per file written
to the first disk, which is:
1000
� 1000
�
1/4 · Si = 1/4 Si = 1/4 · 400 = 100
i=1 i=1
Final 15
(c) [8 points] Find the best upper bound you can on the probability that 200M B or
more are written on the first disk?
For this we can use the first Chernoff bound, which is:
The Chernoff bound only works if X is the sum of random variables that each take
on a value between 0 and 1. The file size of each file in the first disk is between 0 and
1Mb . So we can define X to be the total number of bytes in disk 1. The expected
value of X is 100, so we take c to be 2. We get:
(d) [4 points] Find the best upper bound you can on the probability that there is
some disk with 200M B or more written on it?
For this we can use the Union Bound along with our result from above. The proba
bility of this event happening in one or more disks is upper bounded by the sum of
the probabilities of the event happening in each disk. This gives us an upper bound
of
4 · e−(2 ln 2 − 1)100
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