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A group of athletes have pulse rates uniformly distributed between 60 and 75. What is the probability that a randomly chosen member of the group has a pulse rate greater than 70?

I am thinking that because it is a uniform distribution, of interval length 15, that the probability would be $\frac{75-70}{15}=\frac{1}{3}$. Is it really that simple, or am I missing something hugely important?

UserX
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2 Answers2

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Nope, that's it. Your probability distribution looks like a rectangle: $1/15$ on the interval $[60, 75]$ and zero elsewhere. Slice off the part to the right of $70$ and you get your answer.

John
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I believe the answer would be 5/16. There are 16 possible pulse rates 60 to 75 both included. And we are looking at 5 desired pulse rates 71 to 75. So the probability would be 5/16 not 1/3. We are looking at discrete distribution as you can not have pulse rates like 60.5 and 70.9.

Seetha Rama Raju Sanapala
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    "you can not have pulse rates like 60.5 and 70.9" - why not? That's more of an artifact of how the rates are reported. – user2357112 Jun 10 '14 at 10:22