Probability

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What is probability?

favorable cases
total cases
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In tossing a coin, events
are:

P ( Head) = 1/2
P ( Tail ) = /2 1
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Probability (Head or Tail)
1
/2 + 1 / 2 = 1
Probability ( A or B)
= P(A) + P(B)

Probability  1
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Example of 2 coins tossed

Case 1: 2 H
Case 2: 2 T
Case 3: H & T
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What is the probability of
“a head and tail”?

Favorable outcome
Total outcome
= /3
1
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 Wrong
Case 1: HH
Case 2 : TT
Case 3 : HT
Case 4 : TH
So P = /4 = /2
2 1
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 With 3 coins, what is the
probability of only 1 head?
P (HTT) = (1/2)*(1/2)*(1/2) = 1/8
Joint P = P(A) * P(B) * P(C)
P (THT) and P (TTH) are also
1
/8 each.
So P = /8 + /8 + /8 = /8
1 1
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1 3
 2 dice are thrown

Find the probability that the

sum of faces is 1
P=0

Probability  0
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Find the probability that
the sum of faces is 2

Probability = /36 1

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Find the probability that
the sum of faces is 12

Probability = 1/36

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Find the probability that
the sum of faces is 6

Total Sum Set = { 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12}
So Probability = /11 1

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 Wrong
Total outcomes = 6*6 = 36
Favorable outcomes
{ (3,3), (2,4), (1,5), (4,2), (5,1) }
P = /36
5

Probability of all outcomes

should be equal
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 2 dice are thrown

Find the probability that the

sum is single digit
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Prob ( Sum = 2) = /36 1

Prob ( Sum = 3) = /36 2

Prob ( Sum = 4) = /36 3

Prob ( Sum = 5) = /36 4

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 Prob ( Sum = 6) = 5/36
Prob ( Sum = 7) = /36 6

Prob ( Sum = 8) = /36 5

Prob ( Sum = 9) = /36 4

Total =
(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 5 + 4)
36
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 Alternatively
Prob ( Sum = 10) = 3/36
Prob ( Sum = 11) = /36 2

Prob ( Sum = 12) = /36 1

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 P ( Sum 10,11 or 12) = /36 6

P (Sum is not 10, 11 or 12)

= 1 - /36 = /36
6 30

P(A ) = 1 - P(A)
c

Its easier to work out the

complement sometimes...
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 4 dice are thrown -

probability that there are 3

sixes and another number
Favorable outcome = 1*1*1*5*4
Total outcomes = 6*6*6*6
P = 20 / 6 4
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Probability that a number
is divisible by 2 is
P = 1/2

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Probability that a number
is divisible by 3 is
P = 1/3

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Probability that a number
is divisible by 2 or 3 is

P = /2 + / 3 = /6
1 1 5

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 Is it?
Probability that number is
divisible by 2 or 3 is
1
/ 2 + 1 /3 - 1 / 6 = 4 /6 = 2 / 3
P (A  B) =
P(A) + P(B) - P(A  B)
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10 coins are tossed, what
is the probability that only
one is a tail or head?

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Prob of 1 H, 9 T is = 1/ 210, but
there are 10 such cases. So
prob = 10/210
Prob of 9 H, 1 T is = 10/210
Prob of one tail or head is =
10/2 + 10/2 = 10/2
10 10 9

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In a single toss of 4 coins
what is the probability of
getting at least one head?
P (no heads) = 1/16.
P (at least 1 head) =
1 - /16 = /16
1 15

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In a single toss of 4 coins
what is the probability of
getting at most 1 head?
P (no heads) = 1/16.
P (1 H & 3 T) = /16 * 4.
1

P (at most 1 H)
= P (0 H) + P (1 H) = /16
5
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 2 cards are successively
drawn without
replacement. Probability
that both are greater than
2 & less than 9 is

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There are 6 * 4 = 24 cards
P (1st card) = /52 24

P (2nd card) = /51 23

Joint P = /52 * /51

24 23

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Probability of 1 ball blue st

& 2 white without

nd

replacement?

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 first ball blue = 4/10 = 2/5.
second ball white = /9 = /3 6 2

Joint P = /5 x /3 = /15
2 2 4

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Probability of all 4 being
blue - without
replacement?

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= ( /13)*( /12)*( /11)*( /10)
7 6 5 4

= /143 7

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Probability of all four not
blue - without
replacement?

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= 1 - /143 7

= 136
/143

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Probability that all are of
same color?

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 All white =
6
/13 x /12 x /11 x /10 = /143
5 4 3 3

Probability all same color =

P (all B) + P (all W) = /143 10

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The probability that a card
drawn from a pack of 52
cards is a diamond/king?
There are 13 diamonds and 4
kings, but one of them is a king
of diamond. Therefore,
P = (13 + 4 - 1) / 52 = 16/52
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 In a lottery of tickets
numbered 1 to 50, 2
tickets are drawn. The
probability that both are
prime numbers is:

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(15 prime numbers from 1 - 50)
P (1st being prime) = /50
15

P (2nd being prime) = 14/49

P (both prime) = * / 50*49 15 14

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An AA gun can take max 4
shots. P of hitting the
plane at the 1 , 2 , 3
st nd rd

and 4 shot are 0.4, 0.3,

th

0.2, 0.1 resp. P that the

gun hits the plane is:
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Probability of hitting the plane =

P (the plane is hit at least once)

= 1 - (1-p1)(1-p2)(1-p3)(1-p4) =
1 - (0.6)*(0.7)*(0.8)*(0.9) =
(1 - 0.3024) = 0.6976

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 A contains 4 red and 5
white balls and B contains
3 red and 7 white balls. 1
ball is drawn from A and 2
from B. Find the
probability that out of 3, 2
are white and 1 is red.
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 P(2 W & 1 R) =
P[(1 R from 1 and 2 W from
st

2 or
nd

(1 W from 1 ,1 W and 1 R from

st

2 )]
nd

( /9)*( /10)*( /9)+ ( /9)*( /9)*( /10)

4 7 6 5 7 3

= /15
7

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A speaks the truth in 75%
and B in 80% of the
cases. In how many cases
will they contradict each
other narrating the same
incident.
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 P(A and B contradict each
other)
= P[(A tells truth and B tells a
lie)
or
P(A tells a lie and B tells truth)
= 3/4 * 1/5 + 1/4 * 4/5
= /20
7

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 P of two events E and F
are 0.25 and 0.50 resp. P
of their simultaneous
occurrence is 0.14. P that
neither E occurs nor F is:
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 P (E U F) =
0.25 + 0.50 - 0.14
= 0.61.
Now, P (neither E nor F)
= 1 - P(E U F)
= 1 - 0.61 = 0.39

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The probability that a leap
year selected at random
will contain 53 Sundays,
is:

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A leap year contains 366 days
and therefore, 52 weeks and 2
days. Now, there can be 7
different combinations of the
remaining two days, where 2
favour the required event.
Hence, P = 2/7.
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The probability of solving
a problem by A, B, and C
are /2, /3 and /4
1 1 1

respectively. The
probability that the
problem is solved is:
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P = 1 - P(that the problem
remains unsolved)
= 1 - (1-p1)(1- p2)(1- p3)
= 1 - (1/2)*(2/3)*(3/4)
= 1 - /4 1

= /4 3

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If P that A and B will die
within a year are a and b
resp, P that only one of
them will be alive at the
end of the year is:
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 Required probability
= P(A dies & B alive) or
P(A is alive and B dies.) =
a (1 - b) + (1 - a) b
= a + b - 2ab.

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In a row of 6 Mathematics
books and 4 Physics
books, the probability that
3 particular Maths books
will be together is:

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 Taking 3 books as one book,
we have 8 books which can be
arranged in 8! ways.
These 3 books can be
arranged in 3! ways. Hence
n(F) = 8!*3! Also n(T) = 10!.
Therefore P = (8!*3!) / 10! = /15
1

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N cadets stand in a row. If
all possible permutations
are equally likely, P of 2
particular cadets standing
side by side is:
P = [(N-1)! * 2!] / N! = 2/N
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 A can solve 90% of the
problems given in a book
and B can solve 70%.
What is P that at least 1 of
them will solve a problem,
selected at random?
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 P(E) = 0.9, P(F) = 0.7
Also P(EF) = P(E)*P(F) =
0.63.
Hence required probability is
0.9 + 0.7 - 0.63
= 0.97
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Bag X contains 3 B and 4
W balls. Bag Y contains 4
B and 2 W balls. A bag is
selected at random. From
the selected bag, 1 ball is
drawn. Find P that it is W.
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P (drawing W from X) = 4/7.
P (drawing W from Y) = 2/6.
Choosing either bag gives a
probability of /2.
1

Hence, total probability

= /2 ( /7 + /6) = /42
1 4 2 19

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 3 urns contain 2 W & 3 B
balls, 3 W & 2 B and 4 W
& 1 B resp. A ball is drawn
from an urn at random
and it is W. What it P that
it was drawn from 1 urn?
st

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 P=
( /5)*( /3)
2 1

------------------------------------------
( /5)*( /3) + ( /5)*( /3) + ( /5)*( /3)
2 1 3 1 4 1

= /9 2

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 X contains 5 W and 7 B
balls. Y contains 7 W and 8
B. 1 ball is drawn from X
and put into Y without
noticing its colour. If now a
ball is drawn from Y, what is
P that it is W?
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P(transfer W ball from X & then
select W ball from Y) = /12* /16
5 8

= /24.
5

P( transfer B ball from X and

then draw B ball from Y) =
( /12)*( /16) = /192.
7 7 49

Total probability is =
( /24) + ( /192) = /192
5 49 89
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