A medical test will be positive for 0.05% of people and negative for everyone else. Suppose a hospital will test 4000 patients each day. Use an appropriate approximation to find the probability that 5 people test positive tomorrow. (5SF)

Note that we have a constant probability, fixed number of tests, independent patients and only two outcomes, so we can write a binomial distribution X~Bin(4000,0.0005) where X is the random variable representing the number of patients who test positive.Use a Poisson approximation with L=np=2, so P(X=5) = ~(e^(-2)2^5)/5! = 0.036089

JM
Answered by John M. Maths tutor

3406 Views

See similar Maths A Level tutors

Related Maths A Level answers

All answers ▸

Can you explain where the "Integration by parts" formula comes from?


How do you find the roots of a cubic equation?


An arithmetic progression has a tenth term (a10) = 11.1 and a fiftieth term (a50) = 7.1 Find the first term (a) and the common difference (d). Also find the sum of the first fifty terms (Sn50) of the progression.


integrate (4x^3 +3)(x^4 +3x +16)^2 dx


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning