Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ia/paper-2/12f/solution

The law of total probability and the definition of conditional probability give Bayes' theorem:
The denominator is positive because .
For the observed cargo, set , , . The binomial likelihood under origin is
Equal prior probabilities and Bayes' theorem make the posterior proportional to these likelihoods. The binomial coefficient cancels in the likelihood ratios:
Thus and , giving
Even the permitted approximation gives log ratios about and , which already show overwhelming posterior preference for B. The exact logarithms are preferable because multiplication by magnifies the approximation error. An observed contamination fraction halfway between two hypothesized rates does not give equal likelihoods: the binomial distribution assigns asymmetric probabilities to those deviations, especially at this large sample size.

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