Let Y be the rate (calls per hour) at which calls arrive
at a switchboard. Let X be the number of calls during a
two-hour period. Suppose that the marginal p.d.f. of Y is
f2(y) =
{ e−y if y > 0,
0 otherwise,
and that the conditional p.f. of X given Y = y is
g1(x|y) =
⎧
⎨
⎩
(2y)x
x! e−2y if x = 0, 1, . . . ,
0 otherwise.
a. Find the marginal p.f. of X. (You may use the formula∫ ∞
0 y k e−y dy = k!.)
b. Find the conditional p.d.f. g2(y|0) of Y given X = 0.
c. Find the conditional p.d.f. g2(y|1) of Y given X = 1.
d. For what values of y is g2(y|1) > g2(y|0)? Does this
agree with the intuition that the more calls you see,
the higher you should think the rate is?