IB Mathematics SL & HL

probabilities of events - 1
answers on next page
4 questions ̶ progressing from ‘accessible’ to ‘discriminating’

1. The following probabilities involving events A and B are given.

P  A   , P  B A  , P  B A  
1 2 3
[ no calculator ]
4 3 5
(a) Copy and complete the tree diagram shown below.

(b) Find the following probabilities:

(i) P  A  B  (ii) P  B  (iii) P  A B 

2. A bag contains seven marbles all of the same size. Five of the marbles are
yellow and two of them are blue. Two marbles are chosen without
replacement. Find the probability that: [ no calculator ]
(a) both marbles are yellow
(b) the two marbles are of different colour
(c) the second marble is yellow given that the first one was blue

3. A coin is biased so that when tossed the probability of landing ‘head’ is 2 and
3
landing ‘tail’ is 1 . If the coin is tossed six times, find the probability of obtaining:
3
(a) exactly five heads
(b) at least one tail
(c) three heads and three tails with the heads occurring on consecutive tosses
[ calculator allowed ]

4. Analysis of a medical test for a disease reveals that 8% of people test ‘positive’
for the disease (though not all of these actually have the disease) while 7% of
people actually have the disease (though not all of these test ‘positive’). The
probability that a person does not actually have the disease and tests negative is 0.9.
What is the probability that a person that actually has the disease tests positive?
[ calculator allowed ]

© InThinking – IB Maths HL & SL 1

IB Mathematics SL & HL

probabilities of events - 1

Answers

1 3 5
1. (a) (b) (c)
2 5 6

10 10 5
2. (a) (b) (c)
21 21 6

64 665 32
3. (a)  0.263 (b)  0.912 (c)  0.0439
243 729 729

P  positive has disease  

5
4.  0.714
7

© InThinking – IB Maths HL & SL 2