Question

A small regional carrier accepted 19 reservations for a particular flight with 17 seats. 14 reservations went to regular customers who will arrive for the flight. Each of the remaining passengers will arrive for the flight with a 52% chance, independently of each other. (Report answers accurate to 4 decimal places.)
1. Find the probability that overbooking occurs.
2. Find the probability that the flight has empty seats.

Answer 1

Answer:

(a) The probability of overbooking is 0.2135.

(b) The probability that the flight has empty seats is 0.4625.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the random variable X represent the number of passengers showing up for the flight.

It is provided that a small regional carrier accepted 19 reservations for a particular flight with 17 seats.

Of the 17 seats, 14 reservations went to regular customers who will arrive for the flight.

Number of reservations = 19

Regular customers = 14

Seats available = 17 - 14 = 3

Remaining reservations, n = 19 - 14 = 5

P (A remaining passenger will arrive), p = 0.52

The random variable X thus follows a Binomial distribution with parameters n = 5 and p = 0.52.

(1)

Compute the probability of overbooking  as follows:

P (Overbooking occurs) = P(More than 3 shows up for the flight)

                                        $=P(X>3)\\\\={5\choose 4}(0.52)^{4}(1-0.52)^{5-4}+{5\choose 5}(0.52)^{5}(1-0.52)^{5-5}\\\\=0.175478784+0.0380204032\\\\=0.2134991872\\\\\approx 0.2135$

Thus, the probability of overbooking is 0.2135.

(2)

Compute the probability that the flight has empty seats as follows:

P (The flight has empty seats) = P (Less than 3 shows up for the flight)

$=P(X$

Thus, the probability that the flight has empty seats is 0.4625.