Original practice · fully worked
Original variant: variance under a random gain mode
An instrument has standardized noise U with E[U]=0 and Var(U)=1. Independently, a high-gain indicator B is Bernoulli with success probability 0.40. The recorded offset is Y=(1+B)U+3B. Calculate Var(Y).
- A
1.20 - B
2.16 - C
2.20 - D
3.16 - E
4.36
Answer and calculation
Conditioning on the gain mode gives average conditional variance 2.20 and variance of conditional means 2.16. Their sum is 4.36, choice E.
Setup
Setup
Condition on the binary gain indicator and use independence of U and B.
E[Y∣B]=3B Var(Y∣B)=(1+B)2 Model
Model
Decompose the variance into within-mode noise and between-mode offsets.
Var(Y)=E[Var(Y∣B)]+Var(E[Y∣B]) Compute
Compute
Average over the two Bernoulli states and add the variance of the conditional offset.
E[(1+B)2]=0.60(12)+0.40(22)=2.20 Var(3B)=9(0.40)(0.60)=2.16 Var(Y)=2.20+2.16=4.36 Answer
Answer
The recorded-offset variance is 4.36.
4.36(E)