Expected Lifetime of Watches with Pareto Distribution

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In summary, we are given that watches produced by a certain manufacturer follow a single-parameter Pareto distribution with an alpha value greater than 1 and a theta value of 4. This means that the expected lifetime of a watch is 8 years. For part (a), we are asked to calculate the probability that the lifetime of a watch is at least 6 years, which we found to be 0.444. However, for part (b), it is not clear how to calculate the expected lifetime of a watch that has already survived 6 years without more information about the parameters or the distribution's density function.
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BrownianMan
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For watches produced by a certain manufacturer, lifetimes follow a single-parameter Pareto distribution with alpha > 1 and theta = 4. The expected lifetime of a watch is 8 years.

a) Calculate the probability that the lifetime of a watch is at least 6 years.
b) For the same distribution as above, calculate the expected life of a watch that has already survived 6 years.

I did part a) and got the right answer: 0.444.

Not sure about part b). Wouldn't the answer be 8 years?
 
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BrownianMan said:
For watches produced by a certain manufacturer, lifetimes follow a single-parameter Pareto distribution with alpha > 1 and theta = 4. The expected lifetime of a watch is 8 years.

a) Calculate the probability that the lifetime of a watch is at least 6 years.
b) For the same distribution as above, calculate the expected life of a watch that has already survived 6 years.

I did part a) and got the right answer: 0.444.

Not sure about part b). Wouldn't the answer be 8 years?

Different articles on Pareto distributions use different names for the parameters, so it is not clear what you mean by α and θ. Please describe in more detail, or give a formula for the density function, or something similar.

For (b): the lifetime L = 6+R, where R = remaining life: ER is calculated using the conditional density ##f_X(x| X \geq 6).##
 

1. What is probability?

Probability is a measure of the likelihood of an event occurring. It is represented as a number between 0 and 1, where 0 indicates impossibility and 1 indicates certainty.

2. How is probability calculated?

Probability is calculated by dividing the number of desired outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes. For example, if you flip a coin, the probability of getting heads is 1 out of 2, or 50%, because there are 2 possible outcomes (heads or tails) and 1 desired outcome (heads).

3. What is expected lifetime?

Expected lifetime, also known as expected value, is the average value of a random variable over a large number of trials. It represents the long-term average outcome and is calculated by multiplying each possible outcome by its respective probability and summing them together.

4. How is expected lifetime used in real life?

Expected lifetime is used in many fields, including finance, insurance, and gaming. In finance, it is used to calculate expected returns on investments. In insurance, it is used to determine premiums and payouts. In gaming, it is used to determine the odds of winning and losing.

5. Can probability and expected lifetime be predicted with certainty?

No, probability and expected lifetime cannot be predicted with certainty. They are based on random events and can only be estimated using mathematical techniques. However, as the number of trials increases, the calculated values will approach the true probability and expected lifetime.

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