18PDM202L

Critical and Creative

Thinking Skills
Probability
1. What is the probability of getting exactly three
heads while tossing 4 coins at a time?
(a)1/6 (b)1/3 (c) 1/4 (d)1/12

Total = 2^4
= 16

HHHT
= 4! / 3!
=4

Probability = 4 / 16

= 1/4
2. What is the probability of getting at most three heads
while tossing 5 coins?
(a)12 /16 (b)13 / 16 (c) 12 / 32
(d)14 / 26

Total = 2^5
= 32 = 26
Probability = 26 / 32
No Head TTTTT = 13 / 16
=1
One Head H T T T T
= 5! / 4!
=5
Two Heads H H T T T
= 5! / 2! X 3!
=10
Three Heads = H H H T T
10
At most 3 Heads = 1 + 5 + 10 + 10
3. If two dice are thrown together, the probability of
getting an even number on one die and an odd number
on the other is
a) 1/4 b) 1/2 c) 3/4 d) 3/5

(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)

(2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)
(3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)
(4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)
(5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)
(6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)

Probability = 18 / 36

= 1/2
4. Two fair dice are thrown. Find the probability of
getting a sum which is a prime number < 8?
(a) 11/13 (b) 13/36 (c) 1/13 (d) 1/4

(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6) 4

(2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6) 3
(3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6) 2
(4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6) 2
(5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6) 1
(6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6) 1

Probability = 13 / 36
5. A card is randomly drawn from a deck of 52 cards.
What is the probability getting either a King or a
Diamond?
a) 4/13 b) 2/13 c) 1/3 d) 2/3

Total = 52 C 1
= 52
King = 4C1
=4
King Diamond selected
Remaining Diamond
= 12 C 1
= 12

Probability = 16 / 52

= 4 / 13
6. 2 cards are randomly drawn from a deck of 52 cards.
What is the probability getting both are Red or
King?
a) 4/13 b) 3/26 c) 63/221 d) 55/221

Total = 52 C 2
= 52 x 51 / 1 x 2
= 1326
2Red = 26C2
= 325
2 King = 4C2
=6
K Red = 2C2
=1
P (AUB) = P(A) + P(B) – P(AՌB)
= 325 + 6 – 1 / 1326
Probability = 330 / 1326

= 55 / 221
7. A man and his wife appear in an interview for two
vacancies. The probability of husband’s
selection is (1 / 7) and the probability of wife’s
selection is (1 / 5). What is the probability that only
one of them is selected?
(a) 4 / 5 (b) 2 / 7 (c) 8 /15 (d) 4 / 7

Husband selected but Wife not selected

= (1/7)(4/5)
= 4/35

Wife selected but Husband not selected

= (6/7)(1/5)
= 6/35

Probability
= 4/35 + 6/35
= 10/35
= 2/7
8. A speaks truth in 75% and B in 80% of the cases. In
what percentages of cases are they likely to contradict
each other narrating the same incident?
(a) 25% (b) 65% (c) 35% (d) 50%

A – True & B - False

= (75%)(20%)
= 1500 / 10000
= 15 %

A – False & B - True

= (25%)(80%)
= 2000 / 10000
= 20 %

Probability
= 15% + 20%
= 35%
9. A box contains 20 electric bulbs out of which 4 are
defective. Two bulbs are chosen at random from this box.
The probability that at least one of these is defective is:
(a) 4/19 (b) 7/19 (c) 12/19 (d) 10/21

Total = 20 C 2
= 190
20 Bulbs 16 good 4 defective
At least 1 defective
16C1 x 4C1 or 4C2
16 x 4 or 6
Probability = 64 + 6 / 190
= 70/ 190
= 7 / 19
10. What is the probability that a leap year has 53
Sundays?
(a) 1 (b) 0 (c) 2/7 (d) 1/7
Leap year = 366 days
= 52 weeks + 2 days
Total = 7
Last 2 days may be
Sunday =2
SUN, MON
Probability =2/7
MON, TUE
TUE, WED
WED, THU
THU, FRI
FRI, SAT
SAT, SUN
11. What is the probability that a leap year has 53 Sundays
and 52 Mondays ?
(a) 1 (b) 0 (c) 2/7 (d) 1/7
12. In how many ways can five distinct letters
be placed in 5 distinct envelopes such that
exactly one letter is placed inside a wrong
envelope?
(1) 0 (2) 24 (3) 23 (4) None of these

13. An Integer is selected from the numbers ranging from

1 to 100. What is the probability that it is a multiple of 5 or
7?
(1) 19/100 (2) 7/100 (3) 13/40 (4) 8/25

Divisible by 5 20 numbers
Divisible by 7 14 numbers
Divisible by 35 2 numbers
Probability = ( 20 + 14 – 2) / 100
= 32 / 100
= 8/25
14. There are two bags B1 and B2. B1 contains 5
white and 4 black balls. B2 contains 6 white and 6 black
balls. One bag is selected at random and one ball is
drawn what is the probability that it is black?
(1) 17/36 (2) ½ (3) ¼ (4) 15/39

To draw a black ball from B1 4C1 / 9C1

To draw a black ball from B2 6C1 / 12C1
To select 1 bag = ½
Probability = ½ ( 4/9 + 6/12)
= ½ ( 4/9 + 1/2)
= ½ ( (8+9) / 18)
= ½ x 17/18
= 17 / 36
15. There are 3 boxes with 3 white & 1 black balls, 2 white
& 2 black balls, 1 white & 3 black balls. Find the
probability of getting 2 white and 1 black balls, if 1 ball is
selected from each box.
(1) ½ (2) 1/32 (3)13/32(4) 19/32

3W 1B 2W 2B 1W 3B
W W B
¾ 2/4 = ½ ¾
W B W
¾ ½ ¼
B W W
¼ ½ ¼
(3/4 x ½ x ¾) + (3/4 x ½ x ¼) + (1/4 x ½ x ¼)
= 9/32 + 3/32 + 1/32
= 13 / 32
Thank You . . .