A Biology Professor Responds to Some Student Questions by E-Mail

question 380

Essay

A biology professor responds to some student questions by e-mail. The probability model
below describes the number of e-mails that the professor may receive from students
during a day. $$\begin{array} { l | c | c | c | c | c | c } \text { e-mails received } & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 \\\hline \text { Probability } & 0.05 & 0.10 & 0.20 & 0.25 & 0.30 & 0.10\end{array}$$
a. How many e-mails should the professor expect to receive each day?
b. What is the standard deviation?
c. If it takes the professor an average of ten minutes to respond to each e-mail, how much
time should the professor expect to spend responding to student e-mails each day?

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Definitions:

Sample

A representative subset of the larger population.

High School Seniors

Students in their final year of high school who are typically completing required coursework to graduate and may be preparing for college, vocational education, or the workforce.

Music CDs

Compact discs used to store and play back music audio, slowly becoming obsolete with the rise of digital music platforms.

Focus Group

A qualitative research method involving guided discussions with a selected group of individuals to gain insights into their perceptions, opinions, and attitudes.