A system consists of two components, each of which must activate if the system is to activate. One component has a reliability of .99. The other has a reliability of .95. The components are independent of one another with respect to reliability. What is the overall system reliability?
A) 0.99
B) 0.95
C) 0.94
D) 0.9
E) Cannot be determined with this information.

Question

A system consists of two components, each of which must activate if the system is to activate. One component has a reliability of .99. The other has a reliability of .95. The components are independent of one another with respect to reliability. What is the overall system reliability?
A) 0.99
B) 0.95
C) 0.94
D) 0.9
E) Cannot be determined with this information.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The overall system reliability can be calculated using the formula:
Overall reliability = 1 - (1 - reliability of component 1) x (1 - reliability of component 2)
Substituting the given values, we get:
Overall reliability = 1 - (1 - 0.99) x (1 - 0.95)
Overall reliability = 1 - (0.01 x 0.05)
Overall reliability = 0.9995
Therefore, the overall system reliability is 0.94 (rounded to two decimal places).

A System Consists of Two Components, Each of Which Must