Department of Mathematics
Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, Ranchi
MA 301R1 - Probability and Statistics
Session: Monsoon 2025
Extra Problem Sheet - 1
Instructor: Dr. Ayan Chanda
1. Let A, B, and C be three events with probabilities given in the Venn diagram below.
(a) Find P (A | B).
(b) Find P (C | B).
(c) Find P (B | A ∪ C).
(d) Find P (B | A ∩ C).
2. A box contains three coins: two regular coins and one fake two-headed coin (P (H) =
1),
(a) You pick a coin at random and toss it. What is the probability that it lands
heads up?
(b) You pick a coin at random and toss it, and get heads. What is the probability
that it is the two-headed coin?
3. Let T be the time needed to complete a job at a certain factory. By using the
historical data, we know that
1 t2 , 0 ≤ t ≤ 4,
P (T ≤ t) = 16
1, t ≥ 4.
(a) Find the probability that the job is completed in less than one hour, i.e., find
P (T ≤ 1).
(b) Find the probability that the job needs more than 2 hours, i.e., P (T > 2).
(c) Find the probability that 1 ≤ T ≤ 3, i.e., P (1 ≤ T ≤ 3).
4. You choose a point (A, B) uniformly at random in the unit square {(x, y) : x, y ∈
[0, 1]}.
What is the probability that the equation AX 2 + X + B = 0 has real solutions?
5. You choose a point (X, Y ) uniformly at random in the unit square
S = {(x, y) ∈ R2 : 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0 ≤ y ≤ 1}.
Let A = {(x, y) ∈ S : y ≥ x}. Find P (A).
6. In a factory there are 100 units of a certain product, 5 of which are defective. We
pick three units from the 100 units at random. What is the probability that exactly
one of them is defective?
7. A family has n children, n ≥ 2. We ask the father: “Do you have at least one
daughter?” He responds “Yes!” Given this extra information, what is the probability
that all n children are girls? In other words, what is the probability that all of their
children are girls, given that at least one of them is a girl?
8. I toss a fair die twice, and obtain two numbers X and Y . Let the events be defined
as follows:
A = {X = 2}, B = {X + Y = 7}, C = {Y = 3}.
(a) Are A and B independent?
(b) Are A and C independent?
(c) Are B and C independent?
(d) Are A, B, and C independent?
9. In some town, it’s rainy one third of the days. Given that it is rainy, there will
be heavy traffic with probability 1/2, and given that it is not rainy, there will be
heavy traffic with probability 1/4. If it’s rainy and there is heavy traffic, I arrive
late for work with probability 1/2. On the other hand, the probability of being late
is reduced to 1/8 if it is not rainy and there is no heavy traffic. In other situations
(rainy and no traffic, not rainy and traffic), the probability of being late is 1/4. You
pick a random day.
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(a) What is the probability that it is not raining and there is heavy traffic and I
am not late?
(b) What is the probability that I am late?
(c) Given that I arrived late at work, what is the probability that it rained that
day?
10. An urn contains 30 red balls and 70 green balls. What is the probability of getting
exactly k red balls in a sample of size 20 if the sampling is done with replacement
(repetition allowed)? Assume 0 ≤ k ≤ 20.
Best wishes
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