CHAPTER 33 PROBABILITY

EXERCISE 129 Page 348

1. In a batch of 45 lamps there are 10 faulty lamps. If one lamp is drawn at random, find the

probability of it being (a) faulty, and (b) satisfactory.

10 2
(a) Probability of being faulty = 45 = 9 or 0.2222

45  10 35 7

(b) Probability of being satisfactory = 45 45 = 9 or 0.7778

2. A box of fuses are all of the same shape and size and comprises 23 2 A fuses, 47 5 A fuses and

69 13 A fuses. Determine the probability of selecting at random (a) a 2 A fuse, (b) a 5 A fuse,

and (c) a 13 A fuse.

number of 2 A fuses 23 23
p 2A  
(a) total number of fuses 23  47  69 = 139 or 0.1655

number of 5 A fuses 47
p5A 
(b) total number of fuses = 139 or 0.3381

number of 13A fuses 69

p13A 
(c) total number of fuses = 139 or 0.4964

3. (a) Find the probability of having a 2 upwards when throwing a fair 6-sided dice.

(b) Find the probability of having a 2 upwards when throwing a fair 6-sided dice.

(c) Determine the probability of having a 2 and then a 5 on two successive throws of a fair 6-

sided dice.

number of 2 's 1
p2 
(a) total number of possibilities = 6

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 number of 5's 1
p5 
(b) total number of possibilities = 6

1 1 1

(c) Probability of throwing a 2 and a 5 = 6 6 = 36

4. Determine the probability that the total score is 8 when two like dice are thrown.

A score of 8 is achieved with a (2 + 6), (3 + 5), (4 + 4), (5 + 3) and (6 + 2) - see above diagram,

i.e. 5 possibilities, and there are 36 possible scores when throwing two dice.

5
Hence, the probability of a score of 8 is 36

3 2
5. The probability of event A happening is 5 and the probability of event B happening is 3 .
Calculate the probabilities of (a) both A and B happening, (b) only event A happening, i.e.

event A happening and event B not happening, (c) only event B happening, and (d) either A, or

B, or A and B happening.

3 2 2 1
pA  pB  pA  pB 
Let 5 and 3 and thus the probability of events not happening, 5 and 3

3 2 2
pA  pB  
(a) The probability of both A and B happening = 5 3 = 5

3 1 1
pA  pB  
(b) The probability of event A happening and event B not happening = 5 3 = 5

2 2 4
pB  pA  
(c) The probability of only event B happening = 3 5 = 15

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    
 pA  pB  pB  pA    pA  pB 
(d) The probability of either A, or B, or A and B happening =  

 3 1   2 2    3 2 
 5  3    3  5     5  3 
=      

 3 4 6 7 6 13
    
= 15 15  15 15 15 = 15

6. When testing 1000 soldered joints, 4 failed during a vibration test and 5 failed due to having a

high resistance. Determine the probability of a joint failing due to (a) vibration, (b) high

resistance, (c) vibration or high resistance and (d) vibration and high resistance.

4 1
pv 
(a) The probability of a joint failing due to vibration, 1000 = 250

5 1
pR 
(b) The probability of a joint failing due to high resistance, 1000 = 200

(c) The probability of a joint failing due to vibration or high resistance,

1 1 45 9
p v  pR   
250 200 1000 = 1000

(d) The probability of a joint failing due to vibration and high resistance,

1 1 1
p v  pR  
250 200 = 50000

© John Bird Published by Taylor & Francis 535

EXERCISE 130 Page 350

1. The probability that component A will operate satisfactorily for 5 years is 0.8 and that B will

operate satisfactorily over that same period of time is 0.75. Find the probabilities that in a 5 year

period (a) both components operate satisfactorily, (b) only component A will operate

satisfactorily, and (c) only component B will operate satisfactorily.

Let satisfactory operations be p A = 0.8 and p B = 0.75, and unsatisfactory operations be p A = 0.2

and
p B = 0.25

(a) The probability that both components operate satisfactorily, p A  p B  0.8  0.75 = 0.6

(b) The probability that only component A will operate satisfactorily, p A  p B  0.8  0.25 = 0.2

(c) The probability that only component B will operate satisfactorily, p B  p A  0.75  0.2 = 0.15

2. In a particular street, 80% of the houses have land-line telephones. If two houses selected at

random are visited, calculate the probabilities that (a) they both have a telephone and (b) one

has a telephone but the other does not have telephone.

Let probability of having a telephone, p A = 80% = 0.8 and the probability of not having a telephone,

p B = 20% = 0.2

(a) The probability that both have a telephone, p A  p A  0.8  0.8 = 0.64

(b) The probability that one has a telephone but the other does not,

p A  p B  p B  p A  0.8  0.2  0.2  0.8 = 0.16 + 0.16 = 0.32

3. Veroboard pins are packed in packets of 20 by a machine. In a thousand packets, 40 have less

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 than 20 pins. Find the probability that if 2 packets are chosen at random, one will contain less

than 20 pins and the other will contain 20 pins or more.

40
 0.04
Probability of each pack having less than 20 pins = 1000

960
 0.96
Probability of each pack containing 20 pins or more = 1000

When two packs are chosen at random:

(either one has less than 20 and one has 20 or more) or (one has 20 or more or one has less than 20)

i.e. (0.04  0.96) + (0.96  0.04) = 0.0384 + 0.0384 = 0.0768

4. A batch of 1 kW fire elements contains 16 which are within a power tolerance and 4 which are

not. If 3 elements are selected at random from the batch, calculate the probabilities that (a) all

three are within the power tolerance, and (b) two are within but one is not within the power

tolerance.

16 15 14
 
(a) The probability that all three are within the power tolerance = 20 19 18 = 0.4912

(b) The probability that two are within but one is not within the power tolerance

 16 15 4   16 4 15   4 16 15 
         
=  20 19 18   20 19 18   20 19 18 

= 3(0.14035) = 0.4211

5. An amplifier is made up of three transistors, A, B and C. The probabilities of A, B or C being

1 1 1
defective are 20 , 25 and 50 , respectively. Calculate the percentage of amplifiers produced
(a) which work satisfactorily, and (b) which have just one defective transistor.

19 24 49
pA  pB  pC 
Let the probability of transistors working be: 20 , 25 and 50

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 19 24 49
pA  pB  pC   
(a) The probability of amplifiers working satisfactorily, 20 25 50

= 0.8938 or 89.38%

(b) The probability of amplifiers having just one defective transistor

 1 24 49   1 19 49   1 19 24 
         
=  20 25 50   25 20 50   50 20 25 

= 0.04704 + 0.03724 + 0.01824

= 0.10252 = 10.25%

6. A box contains 14 40 W lamps, 28 60 W lamps and 58 25 W lamps, all the lamps being of the

same shape and size. Three lamps are drawn at random from the box, first one, then a second,

then a third. Determine the probabilities of: (a) getting one 25 W, one 40 W and one 60 W lamp,

with replacement, (b) getting one 25 W, one 40W and one 60W lamp without replacement, and

(c) getting either one 25 W and two 40 W or one 60 W and two 40 W lamps with replacement

14 14 28 58
p 40W    0.14 p 60W   0.28 p 25W   0.58
Let 14  28  58 100 , 100 and 100

(a) The probability of getting one 25 W, one 40 W and one 60 W lamp, with replacement

= 0.58 × 0.14 × 0.28 = 0.0227

(b) The probability of getting one 25 W, one 40 W and one 60 W lamp, without replacement

58 14 28
 
= 100 99 98 = 0.0234

(c) The probability of getting either one 25 W and two 40 W or one 60 W and two 40 W lamps,

with replacement = (0.58 × 0.14 × 0.14) + (0.28 × 0.14 × 0.14)

= 0.011368 + 0.005488 = 0.0169

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