Past Paper 1 PROBABILITY (1)

IBSL

1. Two unbiased six-sided dice are thrown, one is red and the other is green. Two numbers, between 1
and 6 inclusive, are shown. Find the probability that
(a) the number on the red die is even;
(b) the number on the green die is greater than the number on the red die.
[May ‘99]

2. In a survey, 100 students were asked ‘do you prefer to watch television or play sport?’ Of the 46 boys in the
survey, 33 said they would choose sport, while 29 girls made this choice.

Boys Girls Total

Television

Sport 33 29

Total 46 100

By completing this table or otherwise, find the probability that

(a) a student selected at random prefers to watch television;
(b) a student prefers to watch television, given that the student is a boy. [May ‘00]

3. Two ordinary, 6-sided dice are rolled and the total score is noted.
(a) Complete the three diagram by entering probabilities and listing outcomes.

(b) Find the probability of getting one or more sixes. [Nov ‘00]

4. A bag contains 10 red balls, 10 green balls and 6 white balls. Two balls are drawn at random from the bag
without replacement. What is the probability that they are of different colours?
[May ‘01]
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Past Paper 1 PROBABILITY (1)
IBSL

5. The following Venn diagram shows a sample space U and events A and B.

n(U) = 36, n(A) = 11, n(B) = 6 and n(A  B) = 21.

(a) On the diagram, shade the region (A  B).

(b) Find

(i) n(A  B);

(ii) P(A  B).

(c) Explain why events A and B are not mutually exclusive. [Nov ‘00]

6. The events B and C are dependent, where C is the event “a student takes Chemistry”, and B is the event “a
student takes Biology”. It is known that
P(C) = 0.4 , P(B | C) = 0.6 , P(B | C  ) = 0.5 .

(a) Complete the following tree diagram.

(b) Calculate the probability that a student takes Biology.

(c) Given that a student takes Biology, what is the probability that the student takes Chemistry?
[Nov ‘01]

7. Each two digit number between 10 and 99 (including 10 and 99) is written on a separate slip of paper. The
slips of paper are folded and placed in a box. After shaking the box, one slip is selected at random.
What is the probability that the number on this slip is
(a) a multiple of 10 ?
(b) a multiple of 10 or a multiple of 15 ? [Nov ‘01]
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8. The following Venn diagram shows the universal set U and the sets A and B .

(a) Shade the area in the diagram which represents the set B  A .
n(U) = 100, n(A) = 30, n(B) = 50, n(A  B) = 65.

(b) Find n(B  A) .

(c) An element is selected at random from U .

What is the probability that this element is in B  A ? [Nov ‘01]

9. A box contains 22 red apples and 3 green apples. Three apples are selected at random, one after the other,
without replacement.
(a) The first two apples are green. What is the probability that the third apple is red?
(b) What is the probability that exactly two of the three apples are red? [May ‘02]

3 4
10. For events A and B, the probabilities are P(A) = , P(B) = .
11 11
Calculate the value of P(AB) if

6
(a) P(AB) = ;
11
(b) events A and B are independent. [Nov ‘02]

11. Consider events A, B such that P(A)  0, P(A)  1, P(B)  0, and P(B)  1.
In each of the situations (a), (b), (c) below state whether A and B are
mutually exclusive (M);
independent (I);
neither (N).
(a) P(A|B) = P(A)

(b) P(A  B) = 0
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(c) P(A  B) = P(A) [May ‘03]

Answers
1 5
1. (a) 2 (b) 12
38 13
2. (a) 100 (b) 46
3. (a)

(b) 11
36
4. 0.677
5. (a)

2
(b) (i) 2 (ii) 36 (c) (exp)
6. (a)

(b) 0.54 (c) 94

9
7. (a) 90 (b) 12
90
8. (a)

(b) 35 (c) 0.35

9. (a) 22
23 (b) 0.301
1 12
10. (a) 11 (b) 121
11. (a) I (b) M (c) N

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