Chapter 4 Introduction to Probability June 2018

1. If two events A and B are mutually exclusive, what does the special rule of addition state?
(A) 𝑃(𝐴 𝑜𝑟 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃 (𝐵) (B) 𝑃 (𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) (C) 𝑃(𝐴 𝑜𝑟 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) −
𝑃(𝐵)
(D) 𝑃(𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵) = 𝑃 (𝐴) 𝑃(𝐵)
ANS: A
2. Which approach to probability assumes that the events are equally likely?
(A) Classical (B) Subjective (C) Mutually exclusive (D) relative frequency
ANS: A
3. When are two experimental outcomes mutually exclusive?
(A) When they overlap on a Venn diagram. (B) If one outcome occurs, then the other cannot.
(C) When the probability of one affects the probability of the other.
(D) When the joint probability of the two outcomes is not equal to zero.
ANS: B
4. The probability of the intersection of two events is called a(n)
(A) Conditional probability (B) Marginal probability (C) Joint probability (D) Prior probability
ANS: C
5. If two events are independent, then their joint probability is computed with
(A) The special rule of addition (B) The special rule of multiplication (C) The general rule of multiplication
(D) The Bayes theorem
ANS: B
6. If A and B are mutually exclusive, then
(A) 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) = 0 (B) 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) = 1 (C) 𝑃(𝐴 | 𝐵) = 0 (D) 𝑃(𝐴 | 𝐵) = 1
ANS: C
7. The expression of an individual’s degree of belief about the chance that an event will occur is called
(A) Objective probability (B) Subjective probability (C) relative frequency probability (D) Classical probability
ANS: B
8. Which of the following best describes the addition rule of probabilities?
(A) 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) (B) 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) − 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) (C) 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) ∗ 𝑃(𝐵)
(D) 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) + 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)
ANS: B
9. Which of the following statements is not true?
(A) Events are independent when the occurrence of one event has no effect on the probability that another will
occur.
(B) When events A and B are independent, then 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵).
(C) When events A and B are independent, then 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴)𝑃(𝐵).
(D) When events A and B are independent, then 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) − 𝑃(𝐴)𝑃(𝐵)
ANS: B
10. If 𝑃(𝐴) = 0.20, 𝑃(𝐵) = 0.40, and 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 0.04, then 𝐴 and 𝐵 are said to be:
(A) mutually exclusive events. (B) dependent events. (C) independent events. (D) complementary events.
ANS: B
11. Bayes’ Theorem is used to compute:
(A) prior probabilities (B) Classical probability (C) posterior probabilities (D) Objective probability
ANS: C
12. Which of the following would fit the definition of the statistical independence of events 𝐴 and 𝐵?
 (A) 𝑃(𝐵|𝐴) = 𝑃(𝐴|𝐵) (B) 𝑃(𝐴|𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) (C) 𝑃(𝐴|𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐵) (D) 𝑃(𝐴|𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴)
ANS: D
13. Which of the following best describes the multiplication rule of probabilities?
(A) 𝑃(𝐵|𝐴) = 𝑃(𝐵)𝑃(𝐴) (B) 𝑃(𝐵|𝐴) = 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)𝑃(𝐴)
(C) 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴|𝐵)𝑃(𝐵) (D) 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴|𝐵)𝑃(𝐴)
ANS: C
14. Which of the following statements is true given that the events 𝐴 and 𝐵 have nonzero probabilities?
(A) 𝐴 and 𝐵 cannot be both independent and mutually exclusive.
(B) 𝐴 and 𝐵 can be both independent and mutually exclusive.
(C) 𝐴 and 𝐵 are always independent.
(D) 𝐴 and 𝐵 are always mutually exclusive.
ANS: A
15. A variable that can take on a finite and countable number of values is a ____ variable:
(A) qualitative. (B) discrete. (C) continuous. (D) Poisson.
ANS: B
16. The method of probability assessment that relies on an examination of historical data from similar situations is:
(A) relative frequency of occurrence (B) classical assessment (C) historical assessment
(D) subjective assessment
ANS: A
17. The addition law is potentially helpful when we are interested in computing the probability of
(A) independent events (B) conditional events (C) the intersection of two events
(D) the union of two events
ANS: D
18. The listing of all possible outcomes of an experiment and their corresponding probability of occurrence is called
a(n):
(A) random variable. (B) objective probability. (C) probability distribution. (D) hypergeometric function.
ANS: C
19. The range of probability is
(A) any value larger than zero (B) any value between minus infinity to plus infinity
(C) zero to one (D) any value between -1 to 1
ANS: C
20. One of the basic requirements of probability is
(A) if there are k experimental outcomes, then Σ𝑃(𝐸𝑖 ) = 1. (B) 𝑃(𝐴) = 𝑃(𝐴𝑐 ) – 1.
(C) for each experimental outcome𝐸𝑖 , we must have P(𝐸𝑖 ) ≥1. (D) Σ𝑃(𝐸𝑖 ) ≥ 1.
ANS: A
21. The collection of all possible events is called
(A) a simple probability (B) a sample space (C) a joint probability (D) the null set
ANS: B
22. All the events in the sample space that are not part of the specified event are called
(A) simple events (B) the null set (C) joint events (D) the complement of the event
ANS: D
23. The probability of an intersection of two events is computed using the
(A) addition law (B) subtraction law (C) multiplication law (D) division law
ANS: C
24. Posterior probabilities are
 (A) Simple probabilities (B) Marginal probabilities (C) Joint probabilities (D) Conditional probabilities
ANS: D
25. A graphical method of representing the sample points of a multiple-step experiment is
(A) Venn diagram (B) bar chart (C) histogram (D) tree diagram
ANS: D
26. A(n) __________ is a graphical representation in which the sample space is represented by a rectangle and
events are represented as circles.
(A) Venn diagram (B) bar chart (C) histogram (D) tree diagram
ANS: A
27. Events that have no sample points in common are
(A) independent events (B) posterior events (C) mutually exclusive events (D) complements
ANS: C
28. Two events with nonzero probabilities
(A) can be both mutually exclusive and independent (B) cannot be both mutually exclusive and independent
(C) are always mutually exclusive
(D) cannot be both mutually exclusive and independent and are always mutually exclusive
ANS: B
29. Events 𝐴 and 𝐵 are mutually exclusive. Which of the following statements is also true?
(A) A and B are also independent (B) 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴)𝑃(𝐵) (C) 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵)
(D) 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵)
ANS: C
30. In an experiment, events 𝐴 and 𝐵 are mutually exclusive. If 𝑃(𝐴) = 0.6, then the probability of 𝐵
(A) cannot be larger than 0.4 (B) can be any value greater than 0.6 (C) can be any value between 0 to 1
(D) cannot be determined with the information given
ANS: A
31. The expression 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴)𝑃(𝐵|𝐴) is valid if
(A) 𝐴 and 𝐵 are independent (B) 𝐴 and 𝐵 are mutually exclusive (C) only if 𝐴 equals 𝐵′
(D) for any events 𝐴 and 𝐵
ANS: D
32.