Statistics – Introduction to Basic Probability

Suggested Solution to the Problem Sets

Ling-Chieh Kung
Department of Information Management
National Taiwan University

1. (a) A ∪ C = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}.

(b) A ∩ B = {7, 9}.
(c) A ∩ B ∩ C = ∅.
(d) (A ∪ B) ∩ C = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9} ∩ C = {1, 2, 3, 4}.
(e) (B ∩ C) ∪ (A ∩ B) = {2, 4} ∪ {7, 9} = {2, 4, 7, 9}.
2. We shall first construct the joint probability table as

D E F G Total
A 0.038 0.114 0.089 0.152 0.392
B 0.101 0.051 0.101 0.051 0.304
C 0.114 0.063 0.038 0.089 0.304
Total 0.253 0.228 0.228 0.291 1.000

(a) Pr(A) = 0.392.

(b) Pr(A ∩ F ) = 0.089.
0.089
(c) Pr(A|F ) = 0.228 ≈ 0.389.
(d) Pr(B ∪ E) = 0.304 + 0.228 − 0.051 = 0.481.
0.114+0.089
(e) Pr(D ∪ G|C) = 0.304 ≈ 0.667.
(f) They are not independent because, e.g., Pr(A) Pr(D) ≈ 0.099, which is not Pr(A∩D) ≈ 0.038.

3. (a) The joint probability table is

Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Total

Female 0.05 0.075 0.06 0.09 0.275
Male 0.2 0.175 0.19 0.16 0.725
Total 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 1

(b) The proportion of girls with respect to the whole department is 0.275.
0.075
(c) The proportion of girls with respect to the sophomore class is 0.25 = 0.3.
(d) For (b), it is a marginal probability. For (c), it is a conditional probability.
(e) The two variables are not independent. This is because knowing that one is a sophomore gives
us additional information regarding the probability that she is a girl.
4. (a) This probability is the product of 78% (the proportion of people living in urban areas) and 13%
(among them, the proportion of people taking care of ill relatives), i.e., 0.78 × 0.13 = 0.1014.
(b) The joint probability table is

Taking care Not taking care Total

Urban 0.1014 0.6786 0.78
Nonurban 0.0786 0.1414 0.22
Total 0.18 0.82 1
0.0786
(c) The conditional probability is 0.18 ≈ 0.437.