Expected value

Question

You are a manager for a local restaurant. In a given evening, you have a 1% chance that you will need only 1 employee, a 3% chance that you will only need 2 employees, a 35% chance that you will only need 3 employees, a 41% chance that you will need only 4 employees, a 19% chance that you will need 5 employees, and a 1% chance that you will need 6 employees. Based on expected value, and rounding your answer to the nearest employee, how many employees should you staff?

Answer 1

E(X) = .01(1) + .03(2) + .35(3) +.41(4) +  .19(5) + .01(6) is the calculation that you must finish to get the expected value. Then round as directed.