Probability Scaffolding Chapter 5 Name _____________________ Period ___

1. Suppose a company has manufacturing plans in three states. We know 50% of their computers are manufactured
in California, 30% in Washington and 20% in Oregon. We know 85% of the California computers are desktops,
40% of the Washington computers are laptops and 40% of the Oregon computers are desktops.
• If you picked a computer at random, what are the chances it was a laptop?
• If you picked a laptop at random, what are the chances it came from California?

2. Kathy and Peter both drive older cars that don’t always work in the wintertime. Suppose that Kathy’s
car works 80% of the time and Peter’s works 65% of the time. What is the probability they will both
work on any given morning?

3. One of the most effective recruiting techniques to the Virginia Tech Honors program is getting the students to
visit the campus before making their decision. According to recent data, 45% of the potential honors students
visit the campus before making their decision. If the student visits, they accept the offer to attend Virginia Tech
95% of the time, but the students that do not visit the campus before making their decision will attend 55% of the
time. Knowing a student will enter the Virginia Tech Honors program, what is the probability that they visited
the campus before making their decision?

4. An automobile manufacturer buys computer chips from a supplier. The supplier sends a shipment containing 5%
defective chips. Each chip chosen from this shipment has probability of 0.05 of being defective, and each
automobile uses 12 chips selected independently. What is the probability that all 12 chips in a car will work
properly?

5. Two events are independent if

(a) If one occurs, the probability that the other occurs is 1.
(b) If one occurs, the probability that the other occurs is 0.
(c) The probability that one occurs is influenced by whether the other has occurred.
(d) The probability that one occurs is not influenced by whether the other has occurred.

6. Which of the following are considered independent events?

(a) You toss a fair coin and it lands on heads. You toss the coin again and it lands on tails.
(b) Two cards are chosen randomly from a deck of 52 cards with replacement. The first is a king and the second
is a king.
(c) Two cards are chosen randomly from a deck of cards without replacement. The first is a king and the second
is a king.
(d) (a) and (b), but not (c).

If events A and B are independent, then their joint probability is P(A∩B) = P(A)*P(B)

7. If P(A) = 0.5, P(B)= 0.3, what must P(B|A) be if events A and B are independent?

(a) 0.15 (b) 0.3 (c) 0.6 (d) 0.8 (e) Not enough information is given.
8. If P(A) = 0.5, P(B) = 0.3, what must P(A∩B) be if A and B are mutually exclusive?

(a) 0.15 (b) 0.2 (c) 0.7 (d) 0.8 (e) 0.

9. If P(A) = 0.5, P(B) = 0.3, what must P(A∪B) be if A and B are independent?

(a) 0.15 (b) 0.5 (c) 0.65 (d) 0.8 (e) cannot determine

10. In a school, the probability that a student takes environmental science and geography is 0.25. The probability that a
student takes environmental science is 0.72. What is probability that a student takes geography given that the
student is taking environmental science?

Instructions for the next three problems: The letters p, q, r, and s represent probabilities for the four distinct regions in
the Venn diagram below. For each question, indicate which expression describes the probability of the event indicated.

A B

q r s

11. Label the Venn diagram using correct notation.

12. 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) =? (a) p (b) q + s (c) q + s – r (d) q + s + r (e) r

! " "$ !
13. 𝑃(𝐵|𝐴) =? (a) s (b) s – r (c) (d) (e)
" #$ " #$ " $!

14. A recent campaign conducted by the Firm of Ad, Ver and Tizer found that 35% of the target population had heard
their recent ad. The producer knows that 23% of the target population buys the product described in the
ad. Collecting information from stores, the firm discovers that of the target population that buys the product, 40%
had heard the ad. Given that a member of the target population has heard the ad, what is the probability that they
will buy the product?

A) Create a two-way table

B) Make a Venn diagram

C) Find P(Heard) =

D) Find P(Buy) =

E) P(Heard | Buy) =

F) Find P(Buy | Heard) =

G) Are the events heard Ad and buy the product independent? Justify.