CHAPTER -3

PROBABILITY
Basic Probability

1. Three dice are thrown simultaneously. What is the probability that all
of them show the same face? [Ans.; 1/36]

2. What is the chance that a non-leap year selected at random will have
a. 53 Sundays,
b. 52 Sundays. [Ans.: (i) l/7, (ii) 6/7]

3. The odds in favour of an event are 3:5. Find the probability of

occurrence of this event. [Ans.: 3/8]

4. A card is drawn from a well shuffled deck of 52 cards. What are the
odds in favour of getting a face card? [Ans 3:10]

5. A and B are two events, not mutually exclusive, connected with a

1 2 1
random experiment E. If P(A) = , P(B) = and P(A ∪ B) = , find the
4 5 2
values of the following probabilities:
a. P(A ∩ B)
b. P(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵𝑐 )
c. P(𝐴𝑐 ∪ 𝐵𝑐 ) where c stands for the complement.
[Ans.: (a) 3/20, (b) 1/10, (c) 17/20]

6. Prove that for every two events A and B , show that the Probability that
exactly one of the two events will occur is given by the expression.
P(A) + P(B)- 2P(A∩B)

7. If a card is drawn at random from a pack of playing cards, what is the

probability of getting a king or a red card? [Ans.: 7/13]
8. The probabilities of occurrence of two events E and F are 0.25 and 0.50
respectively. The probability of their simultaneous occurrence is 0.14.
Find the probability that neither E occurs nor F occur. [Ans.: 0.39]

9. A card is drawn from an ordinary pack of 52 cards and a gambler bets

that, it is a spade or an ace. What are the odds against his winning the
bet? [Ans.: 9:4]

10. The probability that a contractor will get a plumbing contract is 2/3
and the probability that he will not get an electrical contract is 5/9. If
the probability of getting at least 1 contract is 4/5, what is the
probability that he will get both the contracts? [Ans.: 14/45]

11. In a town of 6000 people 1200 are over 50 years old and 2000 are
female. It is known that 30% of the females are over 50 years. What is
the probability that a random chosen individual from the town is either
female or over 50 years? [Ans.: 13/30]

12. A Chartered Accountant applies for a job in two firms X and Y. He

estimates that the probability of his being selected in firm X is 0.7, and
being rejected at Y is 0.5 and the probability of at least one of his
application being rejected is 0.6. What is the probability be selected at
least one of the firms? [Ans.: 0.8]

13. If two dice are thrown, what is the probability that the sum of the
numbers on the dice is
(i) greater than 8, and (ii) neither 7 nor 11?
[Ans.: (i) 5/18, (ii) 7/9]

14. Suppose that 55% of all adults consume coffee, 45% regularly consume
carbonated soda, and 70% regularly consume at least one of these two
products.

a) What is the probability that a randomly selected adult regularly

consume both coffee and soda? [Ans 0.3]
b) What is the probability that a randomly selected adult doesn’t
regularly consume at least one of them? [Ans 0.7]
15. The three most popular options on a certain type of new car are a
built – in GPS(A), a sunroof(B) and an automatic transmission(C). If
40% of all purchasers request A, 55% request B, 70% request C, 63%
request A or B, 77% request A or C, 80% request B or C, and 85%
request A or B or C, then determine the probability of the following
events:

a) The next purchaser will request at least one of the three options.
[Ans .85]
b) The next purchaser will select none of the three options. [Ans .15]
c) The next purchaser will request only an automatic transmission and
not either of the other two options. [Ans 0.22]
d) The next purchaser will select exactly one of these three options.
[Ans .38]

16. Consider the two events A and B with P(A)=0.4 and P(B)= 0.7.
Determine the maximum and minimum Possible Values of P(A∩ B) and
condition under which each of the value attained. [Ans 0.4, 0.1]

17. If n letters are placed at random in n envelops, what is the probability

that exactly n-1 letters will be placed in the correct envelops? [Ans 0]

18. Let A, B and C are the Arbitrary events. Show that the probability that
exactly one of these three events will be
P(A) + P(B) +P(C) - 2P(A∩B) – 2P(A∩C) - 2P(B∩C) +3 P(A∩ 𝐵 ∩ 𝐶)

19. An insurance company offers four different deductible levels – none,

low, medium and high – for its homeowner’s policyholders and three
different levels – low, medium and high – for its automobile
policyholders. The accompanying table gives proportions for the
various categories of policyholders who have both types of insurance.

Homeowner’s
N L M H

L 0.04 0.06 0.05 0.03

M 0.07 0.10 0.20 0.10

 H 0.02 0.03 0.15 0.15

Suppose an individual having both types of policies is randomly selected.

a) What is the probability that the individual has a medium auto

deductible and a high homeowner’s deductible? [Ans 0.10]
b) What is the probability that the individual has a low auto deductible?
A low homeowner’s deductible? [Ans 0.18, 0.19]
c) What is the probability that the individual is in the same category for
both auto and homeowner’s deductibles? [Ans 0.41]
d) Based on your answer in part (c), what is the probability that the two
categories are different? [Ans 0.59]
e) What is the probability that the individual has at least one low
deductible level? [Ans 0.31]
f) Using the answer in part (c), what is the probability that neither
deductible level is low? [Ans 0.69]

20. If A, B and C are mutually exclusive and exhaustive events, and

1 2
𝑃(𝐴) = 𝑃(𝐵) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃(𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐶), 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑃(𝐴), 𝑃(𝐵) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃(𝐶).
2 3
[Ans.: 1/6, 1/3, 1/2]

21. A box contains six 40 – W bulbs, five 60 – W bulbs, and four 75 – W

bulbs. If bulbs are selected one by one in random order, what is the
probability that at least two bulbs must be selected to obtain one that is
rated 75 – W? [Ans 0.6]

22. Suppose that a Balanced dice is rolled three times and let Xi denotes the
number that appear on the ith roll (i= 1 ,2 ,3 ). Evaluate P(X1>X2>X3)
[Ans 20/216]

23. An Individual is presented with three different glasses of cola ,labeled C,

D and P. He is asked to taste all three and then list them in order of
preference. Suppose the same cola has actually been put into all three
glasses.
a. What are the simple events in the ranking experiment, and what
probability you assign to each one? [Ans 1/6]
 b. What is the probability that C is ranked first? [Ans 0.333]
c. What is the probability that C is ranked first and D is ranked last?
[Ans 1/6]

24. Consider the type of clothes dryer (gas or electrical) purchased by each
of the five different customers at a certain store.

a. If the probability that at most one of these purchases an electrical

dryer is 0.428. What is the probability that at least two purchaser
an electrical dryer? [Ans .572]
b. If P (all five purchases gas)= 0.116 and P( all five purchases
electric)=0.005, What is the probability that at least one of each
type is purchased? [Ans 0.879]
COMBINATION AND PERMUTATION

25. A bag contains 3 white, 4 black & 5 red balls. Two balls are drawn one
by one. Find the probability that:
i) Both are red
ii) First is red & second is black,
iii) One is red & other is black
[Ans.: (i) 5/33, (ii) 5/33, (iii) 10/33]

26. A box of nine golf gloves contains two left - handed and seven rights -
handed gloves
(i) If two, gloves are randomly selected from the box without
replacement, what is the probability that (a) both gloves are right
handed and (b) one is left - handed and one right - handed glove?
(ii) If three gloves are selected without replacement, what is the
probability that all of them are left - handed?
(iii) If two gloves are randomly selected with replacement, what is
the probability that they-would both be right - handed?
[Ans.: (i) 7/12, 7/18; (ii) 0; (iii) 49/81]

27. A box in a certain supply room contains four 40-w light-bulb, five 60-w
bulb and six 75-w bulbs. Suppose that three bulbs are randomly
selected.
a) What is the probability that exactly two of the selected bulb are rated
75-w?
 b) What is the probability that one bulb of each type is selected?
c) What is the probability that all three of the selected bulbs have the
same rating?
d) Suppose now that bulb are to be selected one by one until a 75-w
bulb is found. What is probability that it is necessary to examine at
least six bulb. [Ans. .2967, .0747, .2637, .0421]

28. In a lot of 12 microwave ovens, there are 3 defective units. A person has
ordered 4 of these units and since each is identically packed, the
selection will be random. What is the probability that i) all units are
good?, ii) exactly 3 units are good?, iii) at least 2 units are good?:
[Ans.: (i) 14/55, (ii) 28/55, (iii) 54/55]

29. A bag contains 5 white and 8 red balls. two drawings of 3 balls each are
made such that:
a. The ball are replaced before the second trial,
b. The balls are not replaced before the second trial.

Find the probability that the first drawing gives 3 white and the second
draw gives 3 red-balls in each case. [Ans.: (a) 140/20449 (b) 7/429]

30. A committee of four has to be formed from among 3 economists, 4

engineers, 2 statisticians and 1 doctor.
(i) What is the probability that each of the four professions is
represented on the committee?
(ii) What is the probability that the committee consists of the doctor
and at least one economist? [Ans.: (i) 4/35; (ii) 32/105]

31. A word consists of 9 letters, 5 consonants and 4 vowels. Three letters

are chosen at random. What is the probability that more than one
vowel will be selected? [Ans.: 17/42]

32. A production facility employs 20 workers on the day shift, 15 workers

on the swing shift, and 10 workers on the graveyard shift. A quality
control consultant is to select 6 of these workers for – in depth
interviews. Suppose the selection is made in such a way that any
particular group of 6 workers has the same chance of being selected as
does any other group.
 A. How many selections results in all 6 workers coming from the day
shift? What is the probability that all 6 selected workers will be
from the day shift? [Ans 38760, 0.0048]
B. What is the probability that all 6 selected workers will be from the
same shift? [Ans 0.0054]
C. What is the probability that at least two different shifts will be
represented among the selected workers? [Ans .9946]
D. What is the probability that at least one of the shifts will be
unrepresented in the sample of workers? [Ans 0.2285]

33. The computer of six faculty members in a certain department are to be

replaced. Two of the faculty members have selected laptop machine
and other four have chosen desktop machines. Suppose that only two
computers to be set up are randomly selected from the six (implyfying
15 equally likely)

a) What is the probability that both selected setups are for laptop
computer?
b) What is the probability that both setup are desktop machines.
c) What is the probability that at least one selected setup is for a
desktop computers.
d) What is the probability that at least one computer of each type is
chosen. [Ans. .067, .40, .933, .533]

34. A box contains 30 red balls, 30 white Balls, and 30 blue balls. If 10 balls
are selected at random, without replacement what is the probability
that at least one color will be missing from the selection?
(𝟔𝟎) (𝟑𝟎)
𝟏𝟎
[ Ans 3 − 𝟑 𝟏𝟎 ]
(𝟗𝟎) (𝟗𝟎)
𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟎

35. Fifteen telephones have just have been received at an authorized

service center. Five of these telephone is cellular, five are cordless and
the other five are corded phones. Suppose that these component are
randomly allocated the number 1, 2, 3….15 to establish the order in
which they will be serviced.
 a. What is the probability that all cordless phones are among the
first ten to be serviced? [Ans .0839]
b. What is the probability that after servicing ten of these phones,
phones of only two of the three types remain to be serviced?
[Ans .2498]
c. What is the probability that two phones of each type are among
the first six serviced? [Ans .1998]

36. A car with 6 sparkplugs is known to have 2 malfunctioning ones. If 2

plugs are pulled out at random, what is the probability of getting at
least one malfunctioning plug? [Ans 0.6]

37. A bag contains N balls of which a are red. Two balls are chosen
randomly from the bag without replacement. Let 𝑝1 denote the
probability that the first ball is red and 𝑝2 the probability that 2nd ball is
red. Show that 𝑝1 =𝑝2

38. Your teacher knows 6 jokes and in each class tells 2 jokes; each joke has
an equal chance of being selected. What is the probability that, in a
given lecture, at least 1 joke is told that was not told in the previous
class? [Ans 28/30]

39. If 12 Balls are thrown at random into 20 boxes , What is the probability
that no box will receive more than one ball? [Ans 20!/8!x𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐 ]

40. An Elevator in a building starts with five passengers and Stop at

seventh floors. If every Passenger is equally likely to get off at each floor
and all the passengers leave independently of each other , what is the
probability that no two passenger will get off the same floor?
[Ans 360/2401]

41. Suppose that three runners from team A and three runners from team
B participate in a race. If all six runners have equal ability and there are
no ties, what is the probability that three runners from team B will
finish fourth, fifth and sixth? [Ans 1/20]
42. There are total K peoples, Find the probability that (i) K person have a
different birthday (ii) At least two of the people will have the same
𝟑𝟔𝟓𝐱𝟑𝟔𝟒𝐱……𝐱(𝟑𝟔𝟓−𝐤+𝟏)
birthday? [Ans (i) ,(ii) 1- (i) ]
𝟑𝟔𝟓𝒌

43. If k people seated in a random manner in a row containing n seats

(n>k), What is the probability that people will occupy k adjacent seats
(𝐧−𝐤+𝟏)!𝐤!
in the row? [Ans ]
𝐧!

44. Suppose that 35 people are divided in a random manner into two teams
in such a way that one team contains 10 people and the other team
contains 25 people. what is the probability that two particular people A
and B will be on the same team? [Ans .5798]

45. Suppose that 100 mathematic Students are divided into five classes,
each containing 20 Students and that awards are given to 10 of these
students. If each student is equally likely to receive an award, What is
the probability that exactly two students in each class will receive
award. [Ans .0143]

46. If seven balanced dice are rolled , what is the probability that each of
𝟕!
the six different numbers will appear at least once ? [Ans ]
𝟐(𝟔)𝟔

47. Suppose that a deck of 52 cards contains 13 red cards, 13 yellow ,13
blue cards ,13 blue cards and 13 green cards. If the 52 cards are
distributed in a random manner among four players in such a way that
each player receives 13 cards, what is the probability that each player
𝟒! (𝟏𝟑!)𝟒
receive 13 cards of the same color? [Ans ]
𝟓𝟐!

48. If three letters are placed at random in three envelops, what is the
probability that exactly one letter will be placed in the correct
envelops? [Ans 1/2]

49. Individual A has a circle of five close friends (B, C, D, E and F). A has
heard a certain rumor from outside the circle and has invited the five
friends to a party to circulate the rumor to begin, A Selects one of the
 five at random and tells the rumor to the chosen Individual. That
individual then selects at random one of the four remaining individuals
and repeat the rumor. Continuing, a new Individual is selected from
those not already having heard the rumor by the individual who has
just heard it, until everyone has been told.

a. What is the probability that the rumor is repeated in the order

B, C, D, E and F. [Ans 1/120]
b. What is the probability that F is the third person at the party to be
told the rumor? [Ans 0.2]
c. What is the probability that F is the last person to hear the
rumor? [Ans 0.2]
d. If at each stage the person who currently has the rumor does not
know who has already heard it and selects the next recipient at
random from all five possible individuals, what is the probability
that F has still not heard the rumor after it has been told ten times
𝟒 𝟏𝟎
at that party? [Ans ( ) ]
𝟓

50. 25 books are placed at random on a shelf. The probability that a

particular pair of books shall be always together? [Ans 2/25]

51. Suppose that each person out of a group of 4 friends is randomly

assigned to one of the 6 classes. What is the probability that no class
has more than one person from this group? [Ans 5/18]

52. The nine digits 1, 2, … 9 are arranged in random order to form a nine
digit number, which uses each digit exactly once. Find the probability
that 1, 2 and 3 appear as neighbor in the increasing order? [Ans 1/72]

53. Twelve balls are distributed at random among three boxes. what is
𝟏𝟐∁𝟑 𝑿 𝟐𝟗
probability that the first box will contain 3 balls? Ans ( )
𝟑𝟏𝟐

54. A stereo store is offering a special price on a complete set of

components (receiver, compact disc player, speakers, and turntable). A
purchaser is offered a choice of manufacturer for each component:
 Receiver: Kenwood, Onkyo, pioneer, Sony, Sherwood
Compact disc player: Onkyo, pioneer, Sony, Technics
Speakers: Boston, Infinity, Polk
Turntable: Onkyo, Sony, Teac, Technics

A switchboard display in the store allows a customer to hook together any

selection of components (consisting of one of each type). Use the product
rules to answer the following questions:

a) In how many ways can one component of each type be selected?

[Ans 240]
b) In how many ways can components be selected if both the receiver
and the compact disc players are to be Sony? [Ans 12]
c) In how many ways can components be selected if none is to be Sony?
[Ans 108]
d) In how many ways can a selection be made if at least one Sony
component is to be included? [Ans 132]
e) If someone flips switches on the selection in a completely random
fashion, what is the probability that the system selected contains at
least one Sony component? Exactly one Sony component?
[Ans .55, 0.413]

INDEPENDENT EVENTS
1 7
55. Events A and B are such that 𝑃(𝐴) = , 𝑃(𝐵) = and
2 12
1
P(not A or Not B) = . State whether A & B are (i) mutually exclusive,
4
(ii) Independent [Ans. no, no]

56. Let A and B be two independent events. The probability of their

simultaneous occurrence is 1/8 and this- probability that neither
occurs is 3/8. Find P(A) and P(B). [Ans.: 1/4, 1/2]

57. Anil and Rajesh appear in an interview for two vacancies. The
probability of Anil's selection is 1/3 and that of Rajesh's selection is
1/5. Find the probability that
(a) None will be selected;
 (b) Only one of them will be selected;
(c) Both of them will be selected;
(d) At least one of them will be selected
[Ans.: (a) 8/15, (b) 2/5, (c) 1/15, (d) 7/15]

58. The odds against A solving a problem are 10 to 7 and the odds in favour
of B solving the problem are 15 to 12. What is the probability that, if
both of them try, the problem will be solved? [Ans.: 113/153]

59. A husband and a wife appear in an interview for two vacancies in the
same post. The probability of husband's selection is 1/7 and that of
wife's selection is 1/5. What is the probability that (a) both of them will
be selected; (b) only one of them will be selected, and (c) none of them
will be selected. [Ans.: (a) 0.029, (b) 0.286, (c) 0.686]

60. A certain team wins with probability 0.7, loses with probability 0.2 and
ties with probability 0.1. The team plays three games. Find the
probability that the team wins at least two of the games, but not lose.

[Ans.: 0.49]

61. Three critics review a book. Odds in favor of the book are 5:2, 4:3 and
3:4 respectively for the three critics. Find the probability that the
majority is in favor of the book. [Ans.: 209/343]

62. 70% of all vehicles examined at a certain emissions inspection station

pass the inspection. Assuming that successive vehicles pass or fail
independently of one another, calculate the following probabilities:

a) P (all of the next three vehicles inspected pass) [Ans 0.343]

b) P (at least one of the next three inspected fails) [Ans 0.657]
c) P (exactly one of the next three inspected passes) [Ans 0.189]
d) P (at most one of the next three vehicles inspected passes)
[Ans 0.216]

63. A machine operates if all its three components function. The probability
that the first component fails during the year is 0.14, the second
 component fails is 0.10 and the third component fails is 0.05. What is
the probability that the machine will fail during the year? [Ans.: 0.2647]

64. Suppose that 10000 tickets are sold in one lottery and 5000 tickets are
sold in another lottery. if a person owns 100 tickets in each lottery,
what is the probability that she will win at least one first prize.
[Ans .0298]

65. Consider an experiment in which a fair coin is tossed until a head is

obtained for the first time. if this experiment is performed three times.
what is the probability that exactly the same number of tosses will be
required for each of the three performances? [Ans 1/7]

66. Two boys A and B throw a ball at target. Suppose that A will hit the
Target on any throw is 1/3 and the probability that B will hit the target
on any throw is ¼. Suppose that A will throw the first and the two boys
take turn throwing. Determine the probability the target will be hit for
the first time on the third throw of boy A. [Ans 1/12]

67. Suppose that A, B and C are three events such that A and B are disjoint
events, A and C are independent, and B and C are independent. Suppose
also that 4P(A) =2P(B) =P(C)>0 and P(AUBUC) =5P(A). Determine
the Value of P(A) [Ans 1/6]

68. Suppose that three red balls and three white balls are thrown at
random into three boxes and that throws are independent. What is the
probability that each box contains one red and one white ball?
𝟐 𝟐
[Ans ( ) ]
𝟗

69. A boiler has five identical relief valves. The probability that any
particular valves will open on demand is 0.95. Assuming independent
operation of the valves, Calculate P (at least one valves open) and
P (at least one valve fails to open)? [Ans .99999, .2262 ]

70. Two pumps connected in parallel fail independently of one another on

any given day. the probability that only the older pump will fail is 0.10.
 and the probability that only the newer pump will fail on any given day
is 0.05. what is the probability that both the pumping system will fail on
any given day? [ Ans .0059]

71. One satellite is scheduled to be launched from India and another is

launching from Nepal. let A denotes the event that the Nepal launches
goes of the schedule and B be the events that India Launch goes off the
scheduled. If A and B are independent events with P(A) > P(B)
P(AUB)= 0.626, P(AՌB) =0.144. Determine the value of P(A) and P(B).
[Ans 0.45, 0.32]

72. Let X be the set of positive integers denoting the number of tries it
takes the Indian cricket team to win the world cup. The team has equal
odds for winning or losing any match. What is the probability that they
will win in odd number of matches? [Ans 2/3]

CONDITIONAL PROBABAILITY

73. For any two events A and B with P(B)>0,

Prove that P(A’/B) =1 – P(A/B)

74. For any three Events A, B and D Such that P(D)>0, Prove that
P(A𝑈𝐵|𝐷)= P(A|D) +P(B|D) -P(A∩ 𝐵|𝐷).

75. Suppose that A and B are the events such that P(A)=1/3, P(B)=1/5 ,
P(A/B)+P(B/A)=2/3..find P(A’UB’) [Ans 11/12]

76. Suppose A and B are Independent Events Such that P(A)=1/3 and
P(B)>0. What is the value of P(AUB’/B). [Ans P(A)]

1 1
77. A and B are two events such that 𝑃(𝐴) = , 𝑃(𝐵) = , 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) =
4 3
1 𝐵 1
. 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑃 ( ) = 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. [Ans.: False]
2 𝐴 5.

78. Among the examinees in an examination 30%, 35% and 45% failed in
Statistics, in Mathematics and in at least one of the subjects
respectively. An examinee is selected at random. Find the probabilities
that
 (i) He failed in Mathematics only;
(ii) He passed in Statistics If it is known that he failed in
Mathematics. [Ans.: (i) 0.15, (ii) 3/7]

79. The probability that a trainee will remain with a company is 0.8. The
probability that an employee earns more than Rs. 20,000 per year is
0.4. The probability that an employee who was a trainee remained with
the company or who earns more than Rs. 20,000 per year is 0.9. What is
the probability that an employee earns more than Rs. 20,000 per year
given that he is a trainee who stayed with the company? [Ans.: 3/8]

80. The probability that a person stopping at a petrol pump will get his
tyres checked is 0.12, the probability that the will get his oil checked is
0.29 and the probability that he will get both checked is 0.07.
(i) What is the probability that a person stopping at this pump will
have neither his tyres checked nor oil checked?
(ii) Find the probability that a person, who has oil checked, will also
have his tyres checked. [Ans.: (i) 0.66, (ii) 7/29]

81. A box of 100 gaskets contains 10 gaskets with type A defect, 5 gaskets
with type B defects and 2 gaskets with both types of defect. Find the
probabilities that:
(i) A gasket to be drawn has a type B defect under the condition that
it has a type A defect, and
(ii) A gasket to be drawn has no type of defect under the condition
that it has no type A defect. [Ans.: (i) 1/5, (ii) 87/90]

82. Two factories manufacture the same machine parts. Each part is
classified as having either 0, 1, 2 or 3 manufacturing defects. The joint
probability for this is given below:
Manufacturer Number of Defects

0 1 2 3

X 0.1250 0.0625 0.1875 0.1250

Y 0.0625 0.0625 0.1250 0.2500

(i) A part is observed to have no defect. What is the probability that it was
produced by X manufacturer?

(ii) A part is known to have been produced by manufacturer X. What is the

probability that the part has no defects?

(iii) A part is known to have two or more defects. What is the probability
that it was manufactured by X? (iv) A part is known to have one or more
defects. What is the probability that it was manufactured by Y?

[Ans.:(i) 0.67, (ii) 0.25, (iii) 0.455, (iv) 0.5385]

83. Each Contestant on a quiz show is asked to specify one of the six
possible categories from which question will be asked? Suppose
P(contestant request quiz i)=1/6 and the successive contestant choose
their category independently of one another .if there are three
contestant on a particular show selects different categories , what is the
probability that exactly one has selected category 1 ? [Ans 0.5]

84. Suppose that we classify all households into one of two states rich and
poor. The probability of a particular generation being in either of these
states depends only on states in which their parents were. If a parent is
poors today, their child is likely to be poor with a probability 0.7. If a
parent is rich today, their child is likely to be poor with probability 0.6.
What is the probability that the great grandson of a poor man will be
poor? [Ans 0.67]

85. An oil exploration company currently has two projects, one in the asia
and other in Europe. Let A be the events that Asian Project is successful
and B be the event that European project is successful. Suppose A and B
are independent events with P(A)= 0.4, P(B)=0.7.

a. If the asian project is not successful, what is the probability that

the European project is also not successful? [Ans 0.3]
b. What is the probability that at least one of the two projects will be
successful? [Ans 0.82]
c. Given that at least one of the two projects is successful, what is the
probability that only the Asian Project is successful. [Ans 0.146]
86. Suppose A and B Are Independent Events Such that P(A)=1/3 and
P(B)>0. What is the value of P(AUB’/B). [Ans P(A)]
BAYES THEOREM

87. In a bolt factory, machines A, B, C manufacture respectively 25%, 35%

and 40% of the total. Of their output 5, 4, 2 per cent are known to be
defective bolts. A bolt is drawn at random from the product and is
found to be defective. What are the probabilities that it was
manufactured by; (i) Machine A, (ii) Machine B or C.
[Ans.: (i) 0.36; (ii) 0.64]

88. If a machine is correctly set-up, it produces 90% acceptable items. If it

is incorrectly set up, it produces only 40% acceptable items. Experience
shows that 80% of the set ups are correctly done.
(i) If after a certain set up, out of the first two items produced, first is
found to be acceptable and second unacceptable, what is the
probability that the machine is correctly set-up?
(ii) If the machine produced first two items acceptable, what is the
probability that the machine is correctly set-up?
[Ans.: (i) 0.6, (ii) 0.953]

The results of an investigation by an expert on a fire accident are

summarized below:

(i) Probability (there could have been a short, circuit) = 0.8.

(ii) Prob. (LPG cylinder explosion) = 0.2.
(iii) Chance of fire accident is 30% given a short circuit and 95%
given an LPG explosion.
Based on these, what do you think is the most probable cause of fire?
[Ans.: P(E1/X) = 24/43, P(E2/X) = 19/43; so s/circuit]

89. A man has five coins, one of which has two heads. He randomly takes
out a coin and tosses it three times:
i) What is the probability that it will fall head upward all the limes?
ii) If it always falls head upward, what is the probability that it is the
coin with two heads? [Ans.: (i) 0.3, (ii) 2/3]
90. A Box contain three coins with a head on each side, four coins with tail
on each side and two fair coins, if one of the nine coins selected at
random and tossed once, what is the probability that a head will be
obtained? [Ans 4/9]

91. A transmitter is sending a message by using a binary code, namely a

sequence of 0’s and 1’s. Each transmitted bit (0 or 1) must pass through
three relay to reach the receiver. At each relay, the probability is 0.20
that the bit sent will be different from the bit received (a reversal).
Assume that the relays operate independently of one another.

Transmitted → Relay 1 → Relay 2 → Relay 3 → Receiver

a. If a 1 is sent from the transmitter, what is the probability that a 1 is

sent by all three relays? [Ans 0.512]
b. If a 1 is sent from the transmitter, what is the probability that 1 is
received by the receiver? [Ans 0.608]
c. Suppose that 70 % of all bits sent from transmitter are 1’s. If a 1 is
received by the receiver, what is the probability that a 1 was sent?
[Ans 0.7835]

92. A chemical engineer is interested in determining whether a certain

trace impurity is present in a product. An experience has a probability
of 0.8 of detecting the impurity if it is present. The probability of not
detecting the impurity if it is absent is 0.9. The prior probability of the
impurity being present and being absent are 0.4 and 0.6, respectively.
Three Separate experiment result in only two detections. what is the
posterior probability that the impurity is present? [Ans 0.905]

93. Population of a city is 40% male and 60% female. Suppose also that
50% of males and 30% of females in the city smoke. The probability
that a smoker in the city is male? [Ans 10/19]

94. Consider a railway signaling system: a signal is received by station A

from the traffic control office and then transmit it to station B. Suppose
that the origin (Traffic control office) signal can be yellow or red with
probability 4/5 and 1/5 respectively. The probability of each station
receiving the signal correctly from its predecessor is ¾. If the signal
 received at station B is yellow, then the probability that the original
signal was yellow? [Ans 20/23]

95. A physical therapist at Enormous State university known that football

team will play 40% of its games an artificial turf for this season. He also
knows that football player’s chances of incurring a knee injury are 50%
higher if he is playing on artificial truf instead of grass. If player’s
probability of knee injury on artificial turf is 0.42. What is the prob.
a) A randomly selected football player incurs a knee injury.
b) A randomly selected football player with knee injury incurred the
injury playing on a grass? [Ans. .336, .5]

96. A Crime is committed by one of two suspects A and B. Initially there is

equal evidence against both of them. In further investigation at the
crime scene, it is found that the guilty party had a blood type found in
10% of the population. Suspect A does match this blood type, whereas
the blood type of type Suspect B is unknown, given this new
information, what is the probability that A party is guilty? [Ans 10/11]
Miscellaneous

1. Suppose that a balanced die is rolled repeatedly until the same number
appear on two successive rolls, and Let X denotes the number of that
are required. Determine the value of P(X=x) for x= 2 , 3 ,……
𝟓 𝟏
[Ans ( )𝒙−𝟐 ( ) ]
𝟔 𝟔

2. A particular airline has 10 A.M flights from Chicago to New York,

Atlanta and Los Angeles. Let A denotes the event that the New York
flights is full and define Event B and C analogously for the other two
flights. Suppose P(A)=0.6, P(B) = 0.5, P(C)=0.4 and three events are
independent. What is the probability that:
a. All three flights are full? That at least on flight is not full?
[Ans 0.12, 0.88]

b. Only the New York flight is full? that exactly one of the three
flights is full? [Ans 0.18, 0.38]

3. Three groups of workers contain 3 men and 1 woman, 2 men & 2

women & 1 man and 1 woman respectively. One worker is selected at
 random from each group, what is the probability that the group
selected consists of 1 man and 2 women. [Ans.: 5/16]

4. A box has 10 red balls and 5 black balls. A ball is selected from the box.
If the ball is red, it is returned to the box. If the ball is black, it and 2
additional black balls are added to the box. The probability that a
second ball selected from the box will be red? [Ans 98/153]

5. A particular men’s competition has unlimited number of rounds. In

each round, every participant has to complete a task. The probability of
a participating completing the task in a round is p. If a participant fail to
complete a task in a round, he is eliminated from the competition. He
participates in every round before being eliminated. The competition
begins with 3 participants. What is the probability that all 3
(𝟏−𝒑)𝟑
participants are eliminated in the same round? [Ans ]
𝟏−𝒑𝟑

6. Three married couples sit down at a round table at which there are 6
chairs. All if thee possible seating arrangements of the 6 people are
equally likely. The probability that each husband sits next to his wife?
[Ans 2/15]

7. Each of 4 economists is asked to prescribe one of the 4 economic

policies. Each economic is equally likely to prescribe any of the 4
different policies. What is the probability that each of the economists
prescribes the different policy? [Ans 3/32]

8. There are 5 women on the platform of a train station. The train that
they are waiting for has 3 coaches and each of them is equally likely to
enter any coach. What is the probability that they will enter the same
coach? [Ans 1/25]

9. ICICI Bank collects data on 10000 respondents. Out of the 6800 men,
4200 have credit cards and out of the 3200 women, 2500 have credit
cards. Out of the men with credit cards, 1200 have unpaid balance,
whereas out of the women with credit cards, 1400 have unpaid balance.
 What is the probability that an individual selected at random is a man
with no unpaid balance? [Ans 0.56]

10. Amit has a box containing 6 red balls and 3 green balls. Anita has a box
containing 4 red balls and 5 green balls. Amit randomly draws one ball
from the box and put it into Anita’s box. Now Anita randomly draws one
ball from her box. What is the probability that the balls drawn by Amit
& Anita were of different colors? [Ans 7/15]

11. Two patients share a hospital room for 2 days. Suppose that on any
given day, a person independently picks up a airborne infection with a
1
probability of . An individual who is infected on the first day will
4
certainly pass it to the other patient on the second day. Once
contracted, the infection stays for at least 2 days.

a. What is the probability that both patients have contracted the

infection by the end of the second day? [Ans 121/256]
b. What is the probability that fewer than two patients have the
infection by the end of the second day? [Ans 135/256]

12. A survey of asset ownership in poor household in rural UP and Bihar

found that 40% of the household own a radio, 15% own a television &
60% owns a cycle. It also found that 5% of the households own both
radio and a television, 26% own both a radio and a bicycle, 5% own
both a television and a bicycle and 1% all the three. If a randomly
selected poor household in these areas found to own exactly one of
these 3 assets, what is the probability that it is a bicycle? [Ans 15/23]

13. Jai and Vijay are taking statistics. The exam has only 3 grades A, B and
C. The probability that Jai gets a B is 0.3, the probability that Vijay gets a
B is 0.4, the probability that neither gets an A, but at least one gets B is
0.1. What is the probability that neither gets a C but at least one gets a
B? [Ans 0.6]

14. A number𝑋1 , is chosen at random from the set (1, 2). Then a number𝑋2
is chosen at random from the set (1, 𝑋1 ). The probability that 𝑋1 = 2,
given that 𝑋2 =1? [Ans 1/3]
15. Four taste testers are asked to independently rank three different
brands of chocolate (A, B, C). The chocolate each tester likes best is
given the rank 1, then 2 and then 3. After this, the assigned ranks for
each of the chocolates are summed across the testers. Assuming the
testers cannot really discriminate between the chocolates, so that each
is assigning her rank at random. The probability that chocolate A
receives a total sum of 4? [Ans 1/81]

16. An insurance policy –holder can submit upto 5 claims. The probability
that the policyholder submits exactly n claims is 𝑝𝑛 , for n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
5. If is known

a) The difference b/w 𝑝𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑛+1 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡.

b) 40% of the policyholders submit 0 or 1 claim.

What is the probability that a policyholder submits 4 or 5 claims?

[Ans 0.26]

17. A hospital determines that N, the number of patients in a week, is a

random variable with P[N=n]=2−𝑛−1 , 𝑛 ≥ 0. The hospital also
determines that the number of patients in a given week is independent
of the number of patients in any other week. The probability that there
are exactly 7 patients during a two-week period? [Ans 1/64]

18. A student is answering a multiple-choice examination. Suppose a

question has m possible answers. The student knows the correct
answer with probability p. if the student knows the correct answer, she
picks it with probability 1: otherwise, she picks randomly from the
choices with probability 1/m each. Give that the student picked the
correct answer, the probability that she knew the correct answer is
[Ans mp/[1 + (m – 1) p]

19. There are 4 married couples in a club. A 3-member committee must be

formed from among them, such that no married couple is part of the
committee. Find the probability in which this committee can be formed
? [Ans 4/7]
20. Suppose that 80% of all statisticians are shy, whereas only 15% of all
economists are shy. Suppose also that 90% of the people at a large
gathering are economists and the other 10% are statisticians. If you
meet a shy person at random at the gathering, what is the probability
that the person is a statistician? [Ans 80/215]

21. Three Players A, B and C take turns Playing a game as follows. A and B
play in the first round. The winner plays C in the second round, while
the looser sits out. The game continuing in the fashion, with the winner
of the current round playing the next round with the person who sits
out the current round. The Game end ends if the players wins twice in
succession; This player declare the winner of the contest. For any of the
rounds assume that two players playing the round each have a
probability ½ of winning the rounds, regardless how the past rounds
were won or lost

a. The probability that A becomes the winner of the contest?

[Ans 5/14]
b. The probability that C becomes the winner of the contest?
[Ans 2/7]
c. The probability that the game continues indefinitely, with no one
winning twice in succession [Ans 0]

22. Mr. A and B are independently tossing a coin. Their coins have a
probability 0.25 coming head. After each of them tossing the coin twice,
we see a total of two heads. What is the probability that Mr. A had
exactly one head? [2/3]

23. Consider the square with vertices A, B, C and D. Call a pair of vertices in
the square adjacent if they are connected by an edge in the figure. You
may have four color RED, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW. Find the probability
of coloring the vertices A,B, C D such that no adjacent vertices share the
same color? [0.328125]

24. A slip of paper is given to person A, who marks it with either (+) or (-).
The probability of her writing (+) is 1/3. Then, the slip is passed
sequentially to B, C and D. Each of them either changes the sign on the
slip with probability 2/3 or leaves it as it is with probability 1/3.
 a. Compute the probability that the final sign is (+) if A wrote (+).
[Ans 13/27]
b. Compute the probability that the final sign is (+) if A wrote (-).
[Ans 14/27]
c. Compute the probability that A wrote (+) if the final sign is (+).
[Ans 13/41]

25. A box contains four red balls, five white balls and six blue balls. Suppose
that three balls are drawn randomly

a. What is the probability three of the selected balls are of the same
color? [Ans 34/455]

b. If drawing a blue, what is the probability that at least 6 balls will

be drawn to obtaining a success? [Ans 0.0421]

26. Suppose a box contain five biased coins with probability of head as 0,
1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1 respectively. One coin is selected at random and tossed
twice.
a. What is the probability of obtaining tail on the first toss? [Ans 0.5]
b. If a tail is obtained on first toss, what is the probability that
another tail will be obtained on the second toss? [Ans 0.75]

27. The letters of the word COCHIN are permuted and all the permutations
are arranged lexicographically (i.e., in alphabetical order as in an
English dictionary). Find the probability of words that appear before
the word COCHIN is [Ans 96/360]

28. For any positive integers k, ℓ with k ≥ ℓ, let C(k, ℓ) denote the number
of ways in which ℓ distinct objects can be chosen from k objects.
Consider n ≥ 3 distinct points on a circle and join every pair of points
by a line segment. If we pick three of these line segments uniformly at
random, what is the probability that we choose a triangle?
[Ans C(n,3)/ C(C(n,2),3)]