You want to examine N people to see if they have a certain disease. The obvious alternative is to analyze individual blood samples and see whether or not each of them has the disease. But another more efficient alternative is to divide the N people into n groups of k people each (N= nk). A blood sample is then taken from members of each group and the samples are pooled. If the combined blood sample is negative, all the members of the group are healthy, if it comes out positive, an individual analysis is done to find the sick people. Assuming that there is a probability p that the blood sample of any person is positive. a) Find the expected number of blood tests, which must be analyzed to find all the sick people. b) Determine the range of p values so that the "group test" is preferable to the "individual test".

You want to examine N people to see if they have a certain disease. The obvious alternative is to analyze individual blood samples and see whether or not each of them has the disease. But another more efficient alternative is to divide the N people into n groups of k people each (N= nk). A blood sample is then taken from members of each group and the samples are pooled. If the combined blood sample is negative, all the members of the group are healthy, if it comes out positive, an individual analysis is done to find the sick people. Assuming that there is a probability p that the blood sample of any person is positive. a) Find the expected number of blood tests, which must be analyzed to find all the sick people. b) Determine the range of p values so that the "group test" is preferable to the "individual test".

Holt Mcdougal Larson Pre-algebra: Student Edition 2012

1st Edition

ISBN:9780547587776

Author:HOLT MCDOUGAL

Publisher:HOLT MCDOUGAL

Chapter12: Angle Relationships And Transformations

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 3PTTS

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