QUESTIONS ON PROBABILITY

1. A person would like to visit three of five historical sites in Malacca on a vacation. If the order
of the visits matters, in how many ways can the trip be planned?

2. How many different arrangements can be formed by using all letters of the word ANALYSIS.

3. Four men and two women are nominees for three vacancies on a school board. In how many
ways can these vacancies be filled with two of the male nominees and one of the female
nominees?

4. A box contains 15 units of a certain electronic product, of which three are defective and 12
are good. Three units are randomly selected and sold. What is the probability that
a) Among the three units sold, two are good and one is defective
b) All the three units sold are defective

5. A committee of a sports club consists of 10 men and 12 women. Four committee members
are selected to form a subcommittee. Calculate the probability that the subcommittee will
have
a) One man and three women
b) Two men and two women
c) All men

6. Two events, X and Y are defined in a sample space. P(X)=0.28, P(Y)=0.47 and 𝑃(𝑋 ∩ 𝑌) = 0.03.
Find
a) 𝑃(𝑋 ∪ 𝑌)
b) 𝑃(𝑋 ∩ 𝑌 ′ )
c) 𝑃(𝑋 ′ ∩ 𝑌 ′ )
d) 𝑃(𝑋 ′ ∪ 𝑌 ′ )

7. A machine is made up of three components with the following probabilities of working

satisfactorily: 0.95, 0.96, 0.92. The machine is designed so that it can still function with only
one component working. Calculate the probability that
a) The machine fails
b) The machine has only one component working
c) The machine has at least one component working

8. A company has three departments, A, B and C. Each department has clerical staff, accountants
and executive officers. The details are as follows:
Department
Job A B C
Clerical staff 4 2 2
Accountants 5 3 2
Executive officers 4 2 1
 If four workers are selected at random, find
a) The number of ways at least 2 workers from department B were chosen
b) The probability that two executive officers were chosen

9. 300 hundred adults over 50 years of age were classified according to their smoking habits and
their history of heart attacks. The results are shown in table below:
Smoking habits Heart Attack
Yes No Total
Non-smoker 15 100 115
Moderate smoker 43 50 93
Heavy smoker 76 16 92
Total 134 166 300

a) What is the probability of selecting a person who has either never suffered a heart attack
or who is a non-smoker?
b) Given that the selected person is a heavy smoker, what is the probability that he or she
will have a heart attack?

10. In a group of students studying at a college, 32% are males and 68% are females. 20% of the
males and 35% of the females from this group are majoring in Finance. Find the probability
that
a) A student selected at random from this group is a female majoring in Finance
b) A student selected at random from this group is not majoring in Finance
c) A Finance student selected at random from this group is a male

11. A company decides to check on the accuracy of invoicing. Invoices are prepared by Alicia, Linda
and Jane. A sample of 500 invoices are selected. Two hundred were prepared by Alicia, 120
by Linda and 180 by Jane. The error rates by Alicia, Linda and jane were found to be 25, 3%
and 4% respectively. From the sample of 500 invoices, one invoice was selected.
a) Draw a tree diagram for the above information
b) What is the probability that the invoice contains an error?
c) What is the probability that the invoice was prepared by Alicia, given that it contains no
error?

12. A medical test has been designed to detect the presence of a certain disease. Among those
who have the disease, the probability that the disease will be detected by the test is 0.96.
However, the probability that the test will erroneously indicate the presence of the disease in
those who do not actually have it is 0.03. It is estimated that 95% of the population who take
this test do not have the disease
a) Construct a tree diagram for the above information
b) If a test is administered to an individual, what is the probability that the test is positive?
c) If a test is administered to an individual is negative, what is the probability that the person
actually has the disease?

13. For two events, a and B, P(A)=0.45 and P(B)=0.20

a) If A and B are independent, find 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵), 𝑃(𝐴⁄𝐵)𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵)
b) If A and B are dependant, with 𝑃(𝐴⁄𝐵) = 0.65, find 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) and 𝑃(𝐵⁄𝐴)