In October, 1994, a flaw in a certain Pentium chip

Chapter 3, Problem 76E

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QUESTION:

In October, 1994, a flaw in a certain Pentium chip installed in computers was discovered that could result in a wrong answer when performing a division. The manufacturer initially claimed that the chance of any particular division being incorrect was only 1 in 9 billion, so that it would take thousands of years before a typical user encountered a mistake. However, statisticians are not typical users; some modern statistical techniques are so computationally intensive that a billion divisions over a short time period is not outside the realm of possibility. Assuming that the 1 in 9 billion figure is correct and that results of different divisions are independent of one another, what is the probability that at least one error occurs in one billion divisions with this chip?

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QUESTION:

In October, 1994, a flaw in a certain Pentium chip installed in computers was discovered that could result in a wrong answer when performing a division. The manufacturer initially claimed that the chance of any particular division being incorrect was only 1 in 9 billion, so that it would take thousands of years before a typical user encountered a mistake. However, statisticians are not typical users; some modern statistical techniques are so computationally intensive that a billion divisions over a short time period is not outside the realm of possibility. Assuming that the 1 in 9 billion figure is correct and that results of different divisions are independent of one another, what is the probability that at least one error occurs in one billion divisions with this chip?

ANSWER:

Answer: Step 1: Given a flaw in a certain Pentium chip installed in computers was discovered that could result in a wrong answer when performing a division. The manufacturer initially claimed that the chance of any particular division being incorrect was only 1 in 9 billion, so that it would take thousands of years before a typical user encountered a mistake. Assuming that the 1 in 9 billion figure is correct and that results of different divisions are independent of one another. We have to find the probability that at least one error occurs in one billion divisions with this chip.

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