CHAPTER 9 PROBABILITY

1. In 2016, it was found that 38% of the cars purchased by Malaysians were white. If two buyers were
selected at random and X represents the number of white car’s buyers,
(a) state the set of X,  X = 0,1, 2
(b) draw a tree diagram and determine the probability distribution of X.

 P( X = 0) = 0.3844, P( X = 1) = 0.4712, P( X = 2) = 0.1444

2. In a factory, a supervisor wants to check the quality of a certain product at random. There are 3 type-J
products and 5 type-K products in a box. The supervisor will randomly pick one product and the product
type will be recorded. The product will then be returned to the box and the process is repeated three
times. Let X represent the number of times type-K product is inspected.
(a) Write X in a set notation.  X = 0,1, 2,3
(b) List the distribution of the values of X together with their respective probabilities in a table and

then draw a graph to show the probability distribution of X.

 27 135 225 125 

 P( X = 0) = 512 , P( X = 1) = 512 , P( X = 2) = 512 , P( X = 3) = 512 

3. 70% of Form 5 Dahlia pupils achieved a grade A in the final year examination for the science subject.
Two pupils were chosen at random from that class. If X represents the number of pupils who did not
get a grade A, construct a table to show all the possible values of X with their corresponding
probabilities. Next, draw a graph to show the probability distribution of X.

1
4. Two fair dice are tossed together three times. Let X be a discrete random
variable for getting 7 from the sum of the numbers on the two dice.
(a) Write the values of X in a set notation.  X = 0,1, 2,3
(b) find the probability for each possible value of X.
 125 75 15 1 
 P( X = 0) = 216 , P( X = 1) = 216 , P( X = 2) = 216 , P( X = 3) = 216 

5. In a mini hall, there are three switches to turn on three fans. X

represents the number of switches that are turned on at a time.
(a) Write X in a set notation.  X = 0,1, 2,3
(b) find the probability for each possible value of X.
 1 3 3 1
 P( X = 0) = 8 , P( X = 1) = 8 , P( X = 2) = 8 , P( X = 3) = 8 
2
6. What is the probability of getting a number greater than 2 with a dice?  3 
7. Throw a dice three times. Find the probability such that at the first and second time the dice shows
1
number 2 and the third time, it show an odd number.  72 
8. Two dice are thrown. What is the probability of scoring a total of
5
a) Less than 10  6 
b) 13 [0]

9. One cube has its faces numbered 1 to 6, another has its faces numbered 2 to 7 and another has its
faces numbered 3 to 8. The three cubes are thrown, what is the probability that:
1
a) Obtaining the highest score possible
216
1
b) Obtaining the same number on each cube
54
1
c) Throwing two sevens
36

2
10. Two dice are tossed. What is the probability that, if the sum of the two number shown are
2
less than 10, the numbers are the same? 15 

5
11. Throw two dices at once. Find the probability such that the sum of points is at least 9 18 
12. A man plays a game by throwing two dice. He wins if he two consecutive numbers occur. What is
5
the probability he will win the game? 18 

13. A man plays a game by throwing two dice. He wins if a throw of two same numbers occurs.
5
What is the probability that he lose the game?  6 

 5 
14. Throw 3 dices at once, Find the probability such that the sum of its points is greater than 15. 
108 

3
15. If 3 coins are tossed, what is the probability of getting 2 heads facing upwards  8 

 31 
16. Flip a coin five times consecutively. Find the probability of getting at least one ‘heads’.  
 32 
17. A coin and a die are thrown together, what is the probability of getting a head and a number greater
5
than 4 or a tail and a number not exceeding 3? 12 
18. If a card is drawn at random from a pack of 52 playing cards, what is the probability that it will be :
7
a) A heart or the ace of clubs
26
4
b) A heart or an ace
13
1
c) A heart or a diamond
2

19. A card is drawn at random from a pack of 52 playing cards, replaced and another drawing is made.
What is the possibility that :
3
a) The first card is an ace and the second is not a heart
52
1
b) Both cards are club
16
20. There are 5 red balls, 6 yellow balls and 8 black balls in a box. Pick one at random. Find the
 11 
probability of getting a red ball or a yellow ball. 19 

21. A bag contains 6 red balls and 4 white balls. Two balls are drawn at random from the
7
bag. Find the probability that the two balls are of the same colour. 15 

3
22. An urn contain 8 red marbles, 7 white marbles and 5 black marbles. One marble is drawn at random.
What is the probability that it is :
13
a) Red or black
20
13
b) Not white
20
8
c) Neither black or white
20
23. A box contain 3 red balls and 5 white balls. If any two balls are drawn at random, what is the
5
probability that both balls are white
14
24. A bag contains four white and three red balls of the same size. A ball is drawn at random without
2
replacement. What is the probability of drawing 2 white balls
7
25. From a set of 17 numbered 1,2,3,4…,17, one card is drawn at random. What is the probability that it
is a multiple of;
7
a) 3 or 8
17
7
b) 3 or 5 or both
17
26. In a group of 50 students, 30 study Mathematics, 25 study Physics and 20 study both. One student is
selected at random, what is the probability that the student studies
1
a) Mathematics but not Physics
5
1
b) Physics but not Mathematics
10
3
c) Neither Physics nor Mathematics
10
27. An athlete competes in a 100 metre, 200 meter and a 400 meter race and his chances of winning are
1 1 1
, and respectively. Calculate the probability that:
2 3 4
1
a) He does not win any of the three races
4
7
b) He wins at least two of the races
24
3
28. The probability that a man will be alive in 20 years is and the probability that his wife will be
5
2
alive is . What is the probability that in 20 years time:
3
2
a) Both will be alive
5
7
b) Only one of them is alive
15
13
c) At least one will be alive
15

4
29. There are three students and each of them will write down any one of the digits from 1 to 9. Find the
probability that:
56
a) All the three digits are different
81
25
b) At least two of the digits are the same
81

30. 3 students are selected at random from a class of 12 boys and 8 girls. Find the probability that at
least one boy is being selected 0.9509

31. A committee is formed by choosing 4 person from a group of 6 males and 5 females. Find the
probability of the following events:

1 
a) All are males  22 

1
b) All are females  66 

5
c) 2 females and 2 males 11

32. Out of 100 products, 95 are good in condition, whereas 5 are defectives. Taking 2 products out at
random, find the probability of the following events:
 893 
a) All are in good condition  990 

 1 
b) All are defectives  495 

 19 
c) One in good condition and one is defective 198 
33. Only 3 out of 100 lottery tickets hit the prizes. A person has bought 10 lottery tickets. Find the
probability such that:
 178 
a) All miss  245 
 67 
b) At least one hits  245 

34. a) If a father, mother and their four children sit around a round table for dinner, in how many ways
can they be selected? 120
2
a) What is the probability if the father and the mother must be seated right beside each other?
5

35. a) In how many ways can the letters of the word SHOPKEEPER be arranged? 302400
c) If one of the arrangement in a) is selected, what is the probability that it start with the letters PP
1
45

5
36. 24 boys and 24 girls attend a ball. In a dance for two people, what is the probability of each pair
 24 
having one boy and one girl?  47 

37. Select 3 alphabets at random from “TRIANGLE”. Find the probability of the following events:

2
a) Vowels are more than consonants  7 
5
b) Consonants are more than vowels  7 
38. Arrange all the numbers in “2233344455” randomly. Find the probability such that two “2” s are
next to each other.
1
 5 
39. Arrange 5 cards labelled 1,2,3,4,5 randomly to form a 5-digit number. Find the probability of
getting an even number.
2
 5 
40. There are 18 different reference books on a shelf, 6 of them are Mathematics, 5 of them are
Chinese and the rest are Economics. Choose two books at random. Find the probability of
choosing at least one Mathematics or Chinese reference book.
 44 
 51 
41. Fifty people are present in the meeting. Among them, 35 are students, 12 are parents and 3
teachers. Now a spokesperson is chosen at random. Find the probability such that the
spokesperson is:

 19 
a) Either a teacher or a student  25 
3
b) Either a teacher or a parent 10 
 47 
c) Either a parent or a student  50 

42. The accuracy of a weather forecast is 80%. Find the probability such that 4 out of 5 forecasts are
 256 
accurate  625 
43. Choose a card from a set of 52 poker cards at random without putting it back. Choose another.
1
Find the probability such that the second card chosen is “spades”  4 

1 1
44. Three persons crack a password independently. The probability of cracking successfully is ,
5 4
1 3
and respectively. Find the probability of cracking the password.  5 
3
45. Three persons are participating in a shooting competition. A strikes 3 out of 5, B strikes 2 out of
3 and C strikes 1 out of 2. Now each of them shoot once. Find the probability such that:
6
 1
a) All strikes  5 
3
b) Only one strikes 10 
14 
c) At least one strikes 15 

46. A man has to pass 4 traffic lights on his way to work. Given that the red, the yellow and the
green light are on for 90 seconds, 5 seconds and 25 seconds respectively. Find the probability
such that:
 81 
a) All red lights are on  256 
 9 
b) Only the first two red lights are on  256 
 27 
c) Only two red lights are on 128 

CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY

47. From a set of cards numbered 1,2,3,…,10, one card is drawn at random. What is the probability
that if it is an odd number, it is a multiple of 3?
2
 5 
48. In a group of 50 students, 30 study Mathematics, 25 study physics and 20 study both. If a
2
Mathematics students is selected, what is the probability that it also study Physics?  
3
49. Consider the following probability:

Find the probability that a randomly selected person is a female given that she is left-handed
 0.4286
50. Based on the table below, find the probability:
a) that the person is female, given that the person prefer diet soda?  0.6170
b) that the person prefer diet soda, given that the person is female?  0.4462

7
 51. Researcher asked students in grades 4 about what they thought was the most important thing in
school: making good grades, being popular or being good in sports. There were rural, suburban
and urban school. Choose a student at random.
a) Find the probability that the student was from a suburban school and thought sports were most
important.  0.0460
b) Find the probability that the student was from a suburban school, given the student thought sports
were most important.  0.2444
c) Find the probability the student thought sports were most important, given the student was from a
suburban school.  0.1457 

52. Ryan’s two favourite foods are bagels and pizza. On a randomly selected days, the probability
that Ryan will eat bagel for breakfast is 0.6, the probability that he will eat pizza for lunch is 0.5.
and the probability he eat bagel for breakfast given that he eat pizza for lunch is 0.7. Based on
these information, find the probability he eats pizza for lunch given that he eats bagel for
breakfast.
 0.5833

53. Two dies are thrown simultaneously and the sum of the numbers obtained is found to be 7. What
1 
is the probability that the number 3 has appeared at least once?  3 
54. A math teacher gave her class two tests. 25% of the class passed both tests and 42% of the class
passed the first test. What percent of those who passed the first test also passed the second test?

59.52%

8
 55. A jar contains black and white marbles. Two marbles are chosen without replacement. The
probability of selecting a black marble and then a white marble is 0.34, and the probability of
selecting a black marble on the first draw is 0.47. What is the probability of selecting a white
marble on the second draw, given that the first marble drawn was black?  0.7234
56. The probability that it is Friday and that a student is absent is 0.03. Since there are 5 school days
in a week, the probability that it is Friday is 0.2. What is the probability that a student is absent
3
given that today is Friday?  20 

57. At Kennedy Middle School, the probability that a student takes Technology and Spanish is
0.087. The probability that a student takes Technology is 0.68. What is the probability that a
student takes Spanish given that the student is taking Technology?  0.13

58. A box contains three coins: two regular coins and one fake two-headed coin ( P( Head ) = 1) ,
2
a) You pick a coin at random and toss it. What is the probability that it lands heads up?  3 
b) You pick a coin at random and toss it, and get heads. What is the probability that it is the
1
two-headed coin?  2 
59. In my town, it's rainy one third of the days. Given that it is rainy, there will be heavy traffic with
1 1
probability , and given that it is not rainy, there will be heavy traffic with probability . If it's
2 4
1
rainy and there is heavy traffic, I arrive late for work with probability . On the other hand, the
2
1
probability of being late is reduced to if it is not rainy and there is no heavy traffic. In other
8
situations (rainy and no traffic, not rainy and traffic) the probability of being late is 0.25. You
pick a random day.

1 
a) What is the probability that it's not raining and there is heavy traffic and I am not late?  
8 
 11 
b) What is the probability that I am late?  48 
6
c) Given that I arrived late at work, what is the probability that it rained that day? 11

EXPECTED VALUE
3 2
60. A person has a probability of to gain RM 10000 and a probability of to lose RM 6000. Find
5 5
the expected value of gaining a profit.  RM 3600

61. A bulb manufacturing company gains RM 2 by selling a working product and loses RM 0.50 by
selling a defective product. If 2% of the bulbs manufactured are defective, find the expected
value of profit by selling a bulb.  RM 1.95

9
62. A factory insures every worker for RM60 each. If a worker who is hurt in working will gain an
insurance of RM 1200. Given that the probability such that an accident happens is 0.005. Find
the expected value of gaining profits from insuring.  RM 54
63. An airline company promotes a value pack of RM8 to a passenger. He would get a refund of RM
250 while the flight is delayed for one hour and above. Based on statistics, the percentage of the
flight delays for one hour and above is 2%. Find the expected value of gaining a profit.  RM 3
64. A man plays a game by paying RM 1. The probabilities of winning RM 3000, RM 2000 and RM
1000 are all
1
. Find the expected value. Is it worth it?  RM − 0.40, no
10000
65. A school sells 8000 RM1 lottery tickets for its fun fair. Among them are five RM 500 awards,
ten RM 100 awards and 50 RM 10 awards. Find the expected value of buying a lottery ticket.
Also find the expected value of winning an award  RM − 0.50
66. If a person gets the number “6” after throwing the dice, he will get RM30. Moreover, RM 3 is
rewarded if he gets other numbers. Find the expected value for throwing the dice once  RM 7.50

67. There are four 50 cents and six 20 cents in a bag. If a person picks any two coins from the bag,
find the expected value. 64cents 

68. A stall prepares 250 packets of nasi lemak every day. The cost of each packet is RM 1.50 and the
selling price is RM 5. The nasi lemak that is not sild must be thrown away daily. According to
the statistics, the stall can sell at an average of 57% daily. Find the expected value for the profit
obtained per day.  RM 337.50

69. There are 15 envelopes with cash in a lucky draw (one RM100, two RM50, three RM10, four
RM5 and five RM1). If a person picks one of the envelopes, find the expected value of the cash
obtained. If that person paid RM15, is this lucky draw for him?
 RM 17; worth it; profit RM2
1
70. Regarding a guessing game, the probability of getting RM2000, Rm500 and RM200 is
5000
1
whereas the probability of getting RM 150 is . Given that the fee for one time guessing
3000
game is RM 1, find the expected value of cash obtained. Is this guessing game worth it?
 RM 0.59; not worth it; loss RM0.41

10
 71. A company accepted a renovation job of a hotel. If the job is completed before the deadline, the
company will earn a profit of RM 50 000. If the job is delayed, there will be a penalty. The
delayed period, corresponding probabilities and penalties are given below:

Knowing that the job would not be delayed beyond 90 days, find the expected profits of this job after
penalty  RM 33290
72. Natasha plays a game. She throws an unbiased tetrahedral die with faces numbered 1,2,3 and 4. If the
die lands on the face marked 1 she has to pay RM 1. If it lands on 3 she wins 30 sen. If it lands on 2
or 4 she wins 50 sen.
i) Find her expected profit in a single throw  7.5 sen 
ii) If the game owner changes the rules so that Natasha has to pay RM 1.30 if the die lands on 1.
What will be her expected profit in a single throw?  0

11