People were prohibited ________ their vehicles near the entrance of the main administrative building.
from parking
The verb 'prohibit' is typically followed by the preposition 'from' and a gerund (the '-ing' form of a verb). This structure indicates that an action is forbidden.
The sentence requires a phrase to explain what people were forbidden to do with their vehicles near the entrance.
Applying the rule, the correct phrase is 'from parking'. The completed sentence reads:
People were prohibited from parking their vehicles near the entrance of the main administrative building.
A continuous random variable $x$ has a probability density function given by
$f(x) = e^{-a|x|} \text{ } (-\infty < x < \infty)$
where $a$ is a real constant. The variance of $x$ is __________ (correct up to one decimal place).