Twelve customers arrive at the lunch counter at George's Happy Hog per hour and select the hickory smoked meat du jour along with a side and soda for $5. The server doubles as the cashier and can take and fill an order in three minutes on average. What is the likelihood that there are zero customers in the system at the George's Happy Hog if the times can be assumed as exponentially distributed?
A) 0.40
B) 0.25
C) 0.19
D) 0.81

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The probability of zero customers in the system is given by the formula P0 = 1 / (1 + (lambda / mu)), where lambda is the arrival rate and mu is the service rate. In this case, lambda = 12 customers per hour and mu = 1 / 3 minutes per customer, so P0 = 1 / (1 + (12 / 3)) = 0.40.

Twelve Customers Arrive at the Lunch Counter at George's Happy