[Math] Find the median lifetime

statistics

a certain type of light bulb has lifetimes that follows an exponential distribution with mean 1000 hours. Find the median lifetime. (ie the lifetime x such that 50% of the light bulbs fail before x.)
The answer is 1000log2.I do not know to to get the answer.please help.
Thank you!

Best Answer

Let random variable $X$ be the lifetime of the bulb.

The density function of $X$ is $\frac{1}{1000}e^{-x/1000}$ (for $x\ge 0$). We want to find $m$ so that $$\Pr(X\gt m)=\frac{1}{2}.$$ So we want $$\int_m^\infty \frac{1}{1000}e^{-x/1000}\,dx=\frac{1}{2}.$$ Integrate. We get $$e^{-m/1000}=\frac{1}{2}.$$ Take the natural logarithm of both sides. We get $$-\frac{m}{1000}=\ln(1/2)=-\ln 2.$$ It follows that $m=1000\ln 2$.

Remark: The exponential distribution fits the lifetime of real-life incandescent bulbs quite poorly.