PROBLEMS ON PROBABILITY

1. 10 persons in a room are wearing badges marked 1 to 10. Three persons are chosen at
random and asked to leave the room simultaneously. Their badge numbers are noted.
What is the probability that
(i) The smallest badge number is 5?
(ii) The largest badge number is 5?
2. A lot consists of 10 good articles, 4 with minor defects and 2 with major defects. One article
is chosen at random. Find the probability that it has
(i) No defects?
(ii) No major defects?
(iii) Either good or has major defects?
3. A lot consists of 10 good articles, 4 with minor defects and 2 with major defects. Two
articles are chosen without replacement. Find the probability that
(i) Both are good?
(ii) Both have major defects?
(iii) Atleast one is good?
(iv) Atmost one is good?
(v) Exactly one is good?
(vi) Neither has major defects?
(vii) Neither is good?
4. A box contains tags marked 1,2,3,…,n. Two tags are chosen at random. Find the probability
that the numbers on the tags will be consecutive integers if tags are chosen
(i) With replacement?
(ii) Without replacement?
5. From 6 positive and 8 negative numbers, 4 numbers are chosen at random(without
replacement) and multiplied. What is the probability that the product is
(i) Positive?
(ii) Negative?
6. 10 chips numbers 1 to 10 are mixed in a bowl. Two chips numbered (X,Y) are drawn from
the bowl, successively and without replacement. What is the probability that X+Y=10?
7. From a well-shuffled pack of 52 cards, one card is drawn at random. What is the probability
that it will be
(i) A jack?
(ii) A spade?
8. A bag contains 7 red, 12 white and 4 green balls. What is the probability that
(i) 3 balls drawn are all white?
(ii) 3 balls drawn are one of each color?
9. A and B stand in a line at random with twelve other people. What is the probability that
 (i) There will be 4 people between A and B?
(ii) They are standing together?
10. A committee of 4 people is to be formed from 3 representatives of the parent-teacher
association, 4 representatives of the teaching staff, 2 of the non-teaching staff and 1
selected student representative. Find the probability of forming the committee if there
must be atleast 1 representative of the teaching faculty?
11.Out of the digits 0,1,2,3,4 (without repetition), a five digit number is formed. Find the
probability that the number formed is divisible by 4.
12. Box A contains 2 white and 4 black balls. Another box B contains 5 white and 7 black balls.
A ball is transferred from box A to box B. Then a ball is drawn from the box B. Find the
probability that it is white.
13. A student takes his examination in 4 subjects P,Q,R,S. He estimates his chances of passing
4 3 5 2
in P as , Q as , R as and S as . To qualify, he must pass in P and atleast two other
5 4 6 3
subjects. What is the probability that he qualifies?
14.Urn A contains 8 white and 7 black balls. Urn B contains 9 black and 7 white balls. A ball is
drawn at random from urn A and placed in B and then a ball is transferred from urn B to A.
Finally, a ball is selected from urn A. Find the probability that the ball is white.
15.Urn A contains 3 red and 2 white balls. Urn B contains 2 red and 5 white balls. An urn is
selected at random. A ball is drawn from this and put into the other. Then a ball is drawn
from that urn. Find the probability that both the balls are of same color.
16.Bag A contains 3 white, 2 black and 3 red balls. Bag B contains 4 white, 3 black and 5 red
balls. Bag C contains 5 white, 3 black and 2 red balls. One bag is chosen at random and 3
balls are drawn. They happen to be 1 white, 1 black and 1 red. What is the probability that
the bag chosen is B?
17.In general, when A and B play 12 games of chess, 6 are won by A, 4 by B and 2 end in a
draw. They agree to play a tournament consisting of 3 games. Find the probability that
(i) A wins all 3 games.
(ii) Two games end in a draw.
(iii) A and B win alternatively.
(iv) B wins atleast 1 game.
18.Twenty items, 12 of which are defective and 8 are non-defective are inspected one after
the other. If these items are chosen at random, what is the probability that
(i) The first two items inspected are defective.
(ii) The first two items inspected are non-defective.
(iii) Among first two items inspected, there is one defective and one non-defective.
19. The contents of three urns are 1 white, 2 red and 3 green; 2 white, 1 red and 1 green; 4
white, 5 red and 3 green balls. Two balls are drawn from an urn chosen at random. These
 are found to be 1 white and 1 green. Find the probability that the balls so drawn came from
the third urn.
20.The odds that a cricket team will win 3 matches are 5 to 2, 4 to 3 and 3 to 4. Find the
probability that the team will win the series of three matches.
21. A man tosses a coin and throws a die, beginning with a coin. What is the probability that
he gets a head before he gets a 5 or 6 on the die.
22. Two persons A and B toss an unbiased coin alternatively on the understanding that the
first one to get head wins. If A starts the game, find their respective chances of winning.
23. A and B play alternatively with a pair of dice. A wins if he throws a 6 before B throws a 7
and B wins if he throws a 7 before A throws a 6. If a begins, find his chances of winning.
24. 2% of the population have a certain blood disease in serious form,10% have it in a mild
form and 88% do not have at all. A new blood test is developed. The probability that the
test is positive is 0.9 if the disease is in serious form, 0.6 if the disease is in mild form and
0.1 if no disease. A person has tested positive. What is the probability that the person has
the serious form of the disease?
25. There are two groups of subjects, one of which consists of 5 science and 3 engineering
subjects, and the other consists of 3 science and 5 engineering subjects. An unbiased coin is
tossed. If 3 or 5 comes up, a subject is selected at random from the first group, otherwise
from the second. Find the probability that an engineering subject is selected.
26. A speaks the truth in 75% cases and b in 80% of the cases. In what percentage of cases are
they likely to contradict each other in stating same fact?
27. In a certain college, 4% of the boys and 1% of the girls are taller than 1.8 meters.
Furthermore, 60% of the students are girls. If a student is chosen at random and is found to
be taller than 1.8 meters, what is the probability that the student is a girl?
28. Let A and B be two events associated with an experiment. Suppose that P(A)=0.4,
P(A∪B)=0.7 and P(B)=p. For what choice of p are A and B
(i) Mutually exclusive?
(ii) Independent?
29. Two defective tubes get mixed with two good ones. The tubes are tested one by one, until
both tubes are found. What is the probability that the last defective tube is found in
(i) Second test?
(ii) Third test?
(iii) Fourth test?
30. A box contains 4 bad and 6 good tubes. The tubes are tested by drawing a tube at random,
testing it and repeating the process until all the 4 bad tubes are located. What is the
probability that the fourth bad tube will be located in
(i) Fifth test?
(ii) Tenth test?
31. Consider a lot of 20 defective and 80 non-defective items. Let us choose two items without
replacement. What is the probability that
(i) The second chosen item is defective?
(ii) Both items are defective?
32. A bag contains 3 coins, one of which is two headed, while the other two coins are normal
and unbiased. A coin is chosen at random from the bag and tossed four times in succession.
If head turns up each time, what is the probability that it is a two headed coin?
1 1 1
33. A problem in mechanics is given to 3 students whose chances of solving it are , and
2 3 4
respectively. What is the probability that the problem will be solved?
34. An economist believes that during periods of high economic growth, the US dollar
appreciates with probability 0.7, in periods of moderate economic growth, the dollar
appreciates with probability 0.4 and during periods of low economic growth, the dollar
appreciates with a probability of 0.2. During any period of time, the probability of high
economic growth is 0.3, moderate growth is 0.5 and low growth is 0.2. Suppose the dollar
has been appreciating during the present period, what is the probability that they are
experiencing a period of high economic growth?
35. Suppose that an office has 100 calculating machines. Some of these machines are electric
while others are manual. Some of these are new while others are used. The following table
gives the number of machines in each category. A person enters the office, picks a machine
at random and discovers that the machine is new. What is the probability that it is electric?

Electric Manual Total

New 40 30 70
Used 20 10 30
Total 60 40
36. Suppose 5 men out of 100 and 25 women out of 10,000 are color blind. A color blind
person is chosen at random. What is the probability of him being a male? Assume equal
distribution of males and females in the population.
37. Suppose that we have two boxes 1 and 2, each with two drawers. Box 1 contains a gold
coin in one drawer and silver in the other. Box 2 contains a gold coin in each drawer. One
box is chosen at random and a drawer is chosen at random from the chosen box. The coin
in this drawer turns out to be gold. What is the probability that the coin came from box 2?
38. Suppose A and B are events such that 𝑃(𝐴) = 𝑥, 𝑃(𝐵) = 𝑦, 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑧. Express each of
the following in terms of 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧
(i) 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵)
(ii) 𝑃(𝐴̅ ∩ 𝐵̅)
(iii) 𝑃(𝐴̅ ∩ 𝐵)
(iv) 𝑃(𝐴̅ ∪ 𝐵̅)
39.Five letters are selected at random from the 26 letters of English alphabet (a) with
replacement (b) without replacement. For each of the cases (a) and (b), find the probability
that the word from these letters would contain
(i) 𝑎
(ii) Only vowels
(iii) The word WOMAN
40.Two dice are thrown. What is the probability that
(i) The sum is greater than 8?
(ii) Sum is neither 7 nor 11?
41.What is the probability that the leap year selected at random has 53 Sundays?
42.One number is chosen at random from 1,2,3,…,50. What is the probability that this number
is divisible by 6 or by 8?
43.A committee has 9 students : 2 of first year, 3 of second year and 4 of third year. Three
students are chosen at random. Find the probability that
(i) 3 students belong to different classes
(ii) 2 students belong to same class
(iii) 3 students belong to the same class
44.6 girls are to enter a dance with 10 boys to form a ring so that every girl is between 2 boys.
What is the probability that
(i) Some specified boy remains between 2 boys?
(ii) A certain girl dances with a certain boy?
45.A bag has 40 tickets numbered 1,2,3,…,40 of which 4 are drawn at random and arranged in
ascending order ie 𝑡1 < 𝑡2 < 𝑡3 < 𝑡4 . What is the probability of 𝑡3 being 25?
46.Three winning tickets are to be selected from a box with 100 tickets.What is the probability
of a person winning if he buys
(i) 4 tickets?
(ii) Only one ticket?
47. 𝑛 persons will throw their 𝑛 hats to the center of the hall and picks it later.
(−1)𝑘
(i) Show that the probability that no one gets their own hat is ∑𝑛𝑘=2
𝑘!
(ii) Find the probability that exactly 𝑘 persons out of 𝑛 will get their own hat.
48. Suppose four digits 1,2,3,4 are written in random order. What is the probability that
atleast one digit will occupy its proper position?
49. An inefficient secretary has 𝑛 letters in 𝑛 addressed envelope. If she puts letters in random
envelopes, what is the probability that atleast one will be placed in proper envelope?
50. A class consists of 10 boys and 20 girls. Half of the boys and half of the girls have brown
eyes. Find the probability that a person selected at random is a boy or has brown eyes.
51. Two marbles are drawn successively from a box with 10 red, 30 white, 20 black and 15
orange marbles (a) with replacement (b) without replacement. In both the cases (a) and
(b), find the probability that
(i) Both are white.
(ii) First ball is black and second is white.
(iii) Neither is orange.
52.Two planes bomb a target in succession. The probability of each correctly attaining a hit is
0.3 and 0.2 respectively. The second plane will bomb only if the first one will miss the
target. Find the probability that
(i) The target is hit.
(ii) The target is hit by the second plane.
(iii) Both fail.
53. Three newspapers A,B and C are published in a city. Recent survey indicates the following :
20% read A, 16% read B, 14% read C, 8% read A and B, 5% read A and C, 4% read B and C,
2% read A,B and C. One person is chosen at random. Find the probability that he reads
(i) None of the papers.
(ii) Exactly one paper.
(iii) Reads A and B if it is known that he reads atleast one.
54. Two absent minded roommates forget their umbrella in some way or the other. ‘A’ always
1
takes his umbrella when he goes out. ‘B’ forgets to take his umbrella with a probability .
2
1
Each of them forget their umbrella at a shop with probability . After visiting three shops,
4
they return home. Find the probability that
(i) Both have umbrella.
(ii) Only one has umbrella.
(iii) ‘B’ lost his umbrella given that there is only one umbrella after their return.
55. Coefficients A,B,C of the quadratic equation 𝐴𝑥 2 + 𝐵𝑥 + 𝐶 = 0 are obtained by rolling a
dice thrice. What is the probability that the roots of this equation are real?
1 3
56. A problem in statistics is given to three students A,B,C whose chances of solving are , and
2 4
1
respectively. What is the probability that the problem will be solved?
4
57. Each of two persons toss three coins. What is the probability that they get the same
number of heads?
58. A basket contains 40 mangoes, out of which 15% are overripe. Two mangoes are selected
at random. If both are good, then the basket is accepted. If one is good and the other is
overripe, then another is picked from the remaining and if this is good, then the basket is
accepted. Find the probability of accepting the basket.
59. Two persons decide to meet up between 12 PM and 1 PM. The first one to arrive waits for
20 minutes and leaves. Find the probability that they meet up.
60. Two coins 𝐶1 and 𝐶2 have the probabilities of falling heads 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 respectively. You win
a bet if in 3 tosses you get atleast 2 heads in succession . You toss the coins alternately
starting with either coin. If 𝑃1 > 𝑃2 , what coin would you select to start the game.
61. Out of 2𝑛 + 1 tickets consecutively numbers, three are drawn at random. Find the chances
that the numbers on them are in Arithmetic progression.
62. A person forgets the last digit of a 7-digit telephone number. If one randomly dials the final
3 digits after correctly dialing the first four digits, what is the probability that it is the
correct number?
63. An 8-digit telephone number consists of exactly two zeroes. One of the digits is repeated
thrice. Remaining three are distinct. If the first three digits are 987(left to right), find the
probability of having one 9, one 8 and one 7 in the telephone number.
64. Two squares are chosen at random on a 8×8 chessboard. What is the probability that they
have a side in common.
65. Ajay was born between October 6th and October 10th (excluding October 6th and October
10th). What is the probability that he was born on Saturday?
66. Four boys and three girls stand in a queue for an interview. Find the probability that they
stand alternatively.
67. A bag contains 10 balls numbered from 0 to 9. The balls are such that the person picking a
ball out of the bag is equally likely to pick anyone of them. A person picked a ball and
replaced it in the bag after noting the number. He repeated this process two more times.
What is the probability that the ball picked first is numbered higher than the ball picked
second and the ball picked second is higher than the third?
68. Consider a family with 𝑛 children. Let A be the event that the family has both boys and
girls; B be the event that there is atmost one girl in the family. Find the value of 𝑛, if it
exists, such that the events A and B are independent?
69. One third of the boys are taller than the tallest girl in a class and one fifth of the girls are
shorter than the shortest boy in the class. The class has 25 students and no two students
are of same height. A person who is taller than the shortest boy and shorter than the tallest
girl is chosen at random. What is the probability that the chosen person is a boy?
70. A person takes a step forward with a probability 0.4 and a step backward with a probability
0.6. After taking 11 steps, what is the probability that A is one step forward from the
starting point.