Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Spring Semester 2020-21

MAN-006: Probability and Statistics
Assignment 1

1
(1) Let A, B be two events such that P (A) = 3
and P (B) = 14 . Can A and B be disjoint?
Explain.

(2) Let A, B and C be three events associated with an experiment such that
P (A) = 0.7, P (B) = 0.5, P (C) = 0.4, P (A ∩ B) = P (B ∩ C) = P (A ∩ C) = 0.2, and
P (A ∪ (B ∩ C)) = 0.8. What is the probability that at least one of A, B and C occurs?

(3) Three distinct integers are chosen at random from 20 consecutive positive integers. What
is the probability that (a) their sum is even (b) their product is even?

(4) In a lot of 50 light bulbs, there are 2 defective bulbs. An inspector examines 5 bulbs
randomly without replacement. What is the probability that, among the 5 bulbs inspected,
(a) there is at least one defective bulb (b) exactly one defective bulb?

(5) If n balls are placed at random into n cells, find the probability that exactly one cell re-
mains empty.

(6) If n men, among which are A and B, stand in a row, what is the probability that there
will be exactly r men between A and B? (r ≤ n − 2).

(7) One integer is chosen at random from the integers 1, 2, . . . , 1000. What is the probability
that the chosen integer is divisible by 6 or 8?

(8) A box contains tags marked 1, 2, . . . , n. Two tags are chosen at random. Find the proba-
bility that the numbers on the tags will be consecutive integers if (a) the tags are chosen
without replacement (b) the tags are chosen with replacement.

(9) A problem is given to two students A and B. The (conditional) probability that A can
solve the problem given that B can solve it is 73 and the (conditional) probability that B
can solve the problem given that A cannot solve it is 17 . If the probability that B can solve
1
the problem is 10 , then what is the probability that A can solve it?

(10) There are three coins in a box. One of the coins is a two-headed coin (one head on each
side), another is a fair coin, and the third one is a biased coin that comes up heads 75
percent of the time.
(a) If a coin is drawn from the box at random and flipped, what is the probability of
getting a head?
(b) If a coin drawn at random from the box shows head when flipped, what is the proba-
bility that the coin drawn was the two-headed coin?

(11) Suppose a certain computer program operates using either of two subroutines A and B,
depending on the problem. It is known that subroutine A is used 40 percent of the time
and B is used 60 percent of the time. If A is used, then there is a 75% chance that the
program will run before its time limit is exceeded; and if B is used there is a 50% chance
that it will do so.
(a) What is the probability that the program will run without exceeding the time limit?
(b) If for some random problem, it is known that the program has exceeded its time limit,
what is the probability that subroutine B was used?
1
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(12) A person answers each of two multiple choice questions at random. If there are four possi-
ble choices for each question, what is the (conditional) probability that both answers are
correct given that at least one is correct?

(13) Suppose that A and B are two independent events associated with an experiment. If the
probability that A or B occurs equals 0.6, while the probability that A occurs equals 0.4,
determine the probability that B does not occur.

(14) A problem is given to three students whose probabilities of solving (independently) it are
1 1
, and 41 . What is the probability that (a) only one of them solves the problem (b) the
2 3
problem is solved?

(15) Person A tosses two fair coins and then person B rolls a fair die. This is repeated indepen-
dently until two heads appear on a throw of the coins or one of the numbers 1, 2 appears on
the die, at which time the game is stopped and the corresponding person wins the game.
Compute the probability that A wins the game.

ANSWERS

(103)+(102)(101) (103)
(1) No (2) 0.9 (3) (a) , (b) 1 −
(203) (203)
(485) (484)(21) (n2 )×n!
(4) (a) 1 − , (b) (5) nn
(505) (505)
2(n−r−1) 1
(6) n(n−1)
(7) 4

2 2(n−1)
(8) (a) n
, (b) n2

3 3 4
(9) 5
(10) (a) 4
, (b) 9

3 3 1 2
(11) (a) 5
, (b) 4
(12) 7
(13) 3

11 3 1
(14) (a) 24
, (b) 4
(15) 2