In a multi-user operating system on an average, 20 requests are made to use a…

2007

In a multi-user operating system on an average, 20 requests are made to use a particular resource per hour. The arrival of requests follows a Poisson distribution. The probability that either one, three or five requests are made in 45 minutes is given by :

  1. A.

    6.9 × 10⁶ × e⁻²⁰

  2. B.

    1.02 × 10⁶ × e⁻²⁰

  3. C.

    6.9 × 10³ × e⁻²⁰

  4. D.

    1.02 × 10³ × e⁻²⁰

Attempted by 2 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B

Let X be the number of requests in 45 minutes. Since requests follow a Poisson distribution and the average rate is 20 per hour, the mean for 45 minutes is:
λ = 20 × 45/60 = 15.

Therefore,
P(X = 1 or 3 or 5)
= e⁻¹⁵(15¹/1! + 15³/3! + 15⁵/5!)
= e⁻¹⁵(15 + 3375/6 + 759375/120)
= e⁻¹⁵(15 + 562.5 + 6328.125)
= 6905.625e⁻¹⁵
≈ 6.9 × 10³e⁻¹⁵.

Since the options are written in terms of e⁻²⁰:
e⁻¹⁵ = e⁵e⁻²⁰, and e⁵ ≈ 148.4.

So,
6.9 × 10³e⁻¹⁵ ≈ 6.9 × 10³ × 148.4 × e⁻²⁰
≈ 1.02 × 10⁶e⁻²⁰.

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