In communicating with an orbiting satellite, suppose that a 30-bit message is sent to thesatellite. Transmission of messages can sometimes be distorted. If the probability of eachbit being received incorrectly is 0.001, where each bit is received independently of the others, what is the probability that at least one bit is received incorrectly?

0.0296 = 2.96% probability that at least one bit is received incorrectly.

Step-by-step explanation:

For each bit, there are only two possible outcomes. Either it is received correctly, or it its not. Each bit is received independently of the others, which means that the binomial probability distribution is used to solve this question.

Binomial probability distribution

The binomial probability is the probability of exactly x successes on n repeated trials, and X can only have two outcomes.

In which is the number of different combinations of x objects from a set of n elements, given by the following formula.

And p is the probability of X happening.

The probability of each bit being received incorrectly is 0.001

This means that

30-bit message

This means that

What is the probability that at least one bit is received incorrectly?

This is:

In which

Then

0.0296 = 2.96% probability that at least one bit is received incorrectly.