Estudante

A Solution Manual for:
A First Course In Probability by Sheldon M. Ross.
John L. Weatherwax∗
February 7, 2012

Introduction
Here you’ll find some notes that I wrote up as I worked through this excellent book. I’ve worked hard to make these notes as good as I can, but I have no illusions that they are perfect.
If you feel that that there is a better way to accomplish or explain an exercise or derivation presented in these notes; or that one or more of the explanations is unclear, incomplete, or misleading, please tell me. If you find an error of any kind – technical, grammatical, typographical, whatever – please tell me that, too. I’ll gladly add to the acknowledgments in later printings the name of the first person to bring each problem to my attention.

Acknowledgements
Special thanks to (most recent comments are listed first): Mark Chamness, Dale Peterson,
Doug Edmunds, Marlene Miller, John Williams (several contributions to chapter 4), Timothy
Alsobrooks, Konstantinos Stouras, William Howell, Robert Futyma, Waldo Arriagada, Atul
Narang, Andrew Jones, Vincent Frost, and Gerardo Robert for helping improve these notes and solutions. It should be noted that Marlene Miller made several helpful suggestions on most of the material in Chapter 3. Her algebraic use of event “set” notation to solve probability problems has opened my eyes to this powerful technique. It is a tool that I wish to become more proficient with.
All comments (no matter how small) are much appreciated. In fact, if you find these notes useful I would appreciate a contribution in the form of a solution to a problem that is not yet
∗

[e-mail]

1

worked in these notes. Sort of a “take a penny, leave a penny” type of approach. Remember: pay it forward.

Miscellaneous Problems
The Crazy Passenger Problem
The following is known as the “crazy passenger problem” and is stated as follows. A line of
100 airline passengers is waiting to board the plane. They each hold