A problem on dice.

(a) If 2 fair dice are thrown, find the probability that the sum of upturned faces is 12. (b) If 2 fair dice are thrown, find the probability that the sum of upturned faces is 11 *(c) If 3 fair dice are thrown, find the probability the sum of their upturned faces is 12. [Answer is 0.1157]
ANSWER Question BP001 (a) When doing applied probability questions, the first step is to be clear in our minds the event of interest and denote it by a symbol. Here, the event is the sum of upturned faces of 2 dice, which we will assign a symbol X. The probability of an event is equal to the number of favourable outcomes (n) divided by total number of equally likely outcomes (N) i.e. probability of event = n/N. Now the total number of equally likely outcomes is 6*6 = 36 The number of favourable outcome of 12 is n = 1, because there is one way to get a sum of 12 from the dice - each die must have upturned face of 6. So the probability of sum of 12 is 1/36. (b) Again N = 36. We need to find the number of ways to get a sum of 11. Well, this can happen two ways. We could get {5,6} or {6,5}. So probability of getting a sum of 11 is 2/36 or 1/18.

Question BP002
Three athletes, let's label them A,B,C, run a race. They are equally matched. If the 3 race against each other, (a) find the probability that A wins the race (b) if you are told A beat C, what is the probability that A won the race?
ANSWER Question BP002 (a) Lets list the possible outcomes. One outcome is A comes in 1 st , followed by B, and C comes in last. Well write this as ABC. Continuing this way we have the outcomes: {ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA} From this we see the number of possible outcomes is N=6. Of these A wins the race in 2 ways {ABC, ACB}. So the probability A wins is 2/6 = 1/3.

1Oth Maths Comprehensive Test chapter Probability

Q1. A lot consists of 144 ball pens of which 20 are defective and the others are good. Nuri will buy a pen if it is good, but will not buy if it defective. The shopkeeper draws one pen at random and gives it to her. What is the probability that (i) She will buy it? (ii) She will not buy it? Q2. An unbiased die is thrown. What is the probability of getting: (i) an even number or a multiple of 3 (ii) an even number and multiple of 3 (iii) a number 3 or 4. Q3. Two unbiased coins are tossed simultaneously. Find the probability of getting (i) at least one head. (ii) at most one head. (iii) No head. Q4. Three unbiased coins are tossed together. Find the probability of getting: (i) all heads (ii) at least two heads Q5. Two dice are thrown simultaneously. Find the probability of getting : (i) the sum as a prime number (ii) a total of at least 10 (iii) a doublet of even number (iv) a multiple of 2 on one dice and a multiple of 3 on the other. Q6. Find the probability that a leap year selected at random will contain 53 Sundays. Q7. What is the probability that a number selected from the numbers 1,2,3,25 is a prime number, when each of the given numbers is equally likely to be selected? Q8. One card drawn from a pack of 52 cards, each of the 52 cards being equally likely to be to drawn. Find the probability that the card drawn is: (i) an once (ii) red (iii) either red or king (iv) red and a king (v) a face card (vi) a red face card (vii) 2 of spades (viii) 10 of a black suit Q9. The king, queen and jack of clubs are removed from a deck of 52 playing cards and the well shuffled. One card is selected from the remaining cards. Find the probability of getting: (i) a heart (ii) a king (iii) a club (iv) the 10 of hearts. Q10. A bag contains 5 red balls and some blue balls. If the probability of drawing blue ball is double that of a red ball, find the number of blue balls in the bag. Q11. A contains 12 balls out of which x are white. (i) If one ball is drawn at random, what is the probability that it will be a white ball? (ii) If 6 more white balls are put in the bag, the probability of drawing a white ball will be double than that in (i). Find x. Q12. Cards marked with the numbers 2 to 101 are placed in box and mixed thoroughly. One Card is drawn from this box. Find the probability that the number on the card is: (i) an even number (ii) a number less than 14 (iii) a number which is a perfect square (iv) a prime number less than 20. Q13. A letter is chosen at random from the letters of the word ASSASSINATION. Find the probability

that the letter chosen is a (i) vowel (ii) consonant. Q14. A jar contains 54 marbles each of which is blue, green or white. The probability of selecting a blue marble at random from the jar is 2/3, and the probability of selecting a green marble at random is . How many white marbles does the jar contain? Q15. A number x is selected from the numbers 1,2,3 and then a second number randomly selected from the numbers 1,4,9. What is the probability that the product xy of the two numbers will beless than 9? Q16. Tickets numbered from 1 to 20 are mixed up together and then a ticket is drown at random. What is the probability that the ticket has a number which is a multiple of 3 or 7. Q17. It is known that a box of 600 electric bulbs contains 12 defective bulbs. One bulb is taken out at random from this box. What is the probability that it is a non-defective bulb? Q18. 17 cards numbered 1,2,3,17 are put in a box and mixed thoroughly. One person draws a card from the box. Find the probability that the number on the card is: (i) odd ii) a prime (iii) divisible by 3 (iv) divisible by 3 and 2 both Q19. A bag contains 5 red balls, 8 white balls, 4 green balls and 7 black balls. If one ball is drawn at random, find the probability that it is: (i) black (ii) red (iii) not green. Q20. A game consists of tossing a one rupee coin 3 times and noting its outcome each time. Hanif wins if all the tosses give the same result i.e. three heads or three tails, and loses otherwise. Calculate the probability that Hanif will lose the game. Q21. If a number x is chosen at random from the numbers 2,-1,0,1,2. What is the probability that 2x<2? Q22. A jar contains 24 marbles some are green are others are blue. If a marble is drawn at random from the jar, the probability that it is green is 2/3. Find the number of blue marbles in the jar. Q23. A card is drawn at random from a pack of 52 cards. Find the probability that the card drawn is (i) black king (ii) either a black card or a king (iii) black and a king (iv) a jack, queen or a king (v) neither a heart nor a king (vi) spade or an ace (vii) neither an ace nor a king (viii) neither a red cad nor a queen (ix) other than an ace (x) a ten (xi) a spade (xii) a black card (xiii) the seven of clubs (xiv) jack (xv) the ace of spades (xvi) a queen (xvii) a heart (xviii) a red card Q24. In a lottery of 50 tickets numbered 1 to 50, one ticket is drawn. Find the probability that the drawn ticket bears a prime number. Q25. In a lottery there are 10 prizes and 25 blanks. What is the probability of getting a prize?

In what follows, S is the sample space of the experiment in question and E is the event of interest. n(S) is the number of elements in the sample space S and n(E) is the number of elements in the event E. Question 1: A die is rolled, find the probability that an even number is obtained. Solution to Question 1:

Let us first write the sample space S of the experiment. S = {1,2,3,4,5,6}

Let E be the event "an even number is obtained" and write it down. E = {2,4,6}

We now use the formula of the classical probability. P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 3 / 6 = 1 / 2

Question 2: Two coins are tossed, find the probability that two heads are obtained. Note: Each coin has two possible outcomes H (heads) and T (Tails). Solution to Question 2:

The sample space S is given by. S = {(H,T),(H,H),(T,H),(T,T)}

Let E be the event "two heads are obtained". E = {(H,H)}

We use the formula of the classical probability. P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 1 / 4

Question 3: Which of these numbers cannot be a probability? a) -0.00001 b) 0.5 c) 1.001 d) 0 e) 1 f) 20% Solution to Question 3:

A probability is always greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1, hence only a) and c) above cannot represent probabilities: -0.00010 is less than 0 and 1.001 is greater than 1.

Question 4: Two dice are rolled, find the probability that the sum is a) equal to 1 b) equal to 4

c) less than 13 Solution to Question 4:

a) The sample space S of two dice is shown below. S = { (1,1),(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(1,5),(1,6) (2,1),(2,2),(2,3),(2,4),(2,5),(2,6) (3,1),(3,2),(3,3),(3,4),(3,5),(3,6) (4,1),(4,2),(4,3),(4,4),(4,5),(4,6) (5,1),(5,2),(5,3),(5,4),(5,5),(5,6) (6,1),(6,2),(6,3),(6,4),(6,5),(6,6) }

Let E be the event "sum equal to 1". There are no outcomes which correspond to a sum equal to 1, hence P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 0 / 36 = 0

b) Three possible ouctcomes give a sum equal to 4: E = {(1,3),(2,2),(3,1)}, hence. P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 3 / 36 = 1 / 12

c) All possible ouctcomes, E = S, give a sum less than 13, hence. P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 36 / 36 = 1

Question 5: A die is rolled and a coin is tossed, find the probability that the die shows an odd number and the coin shows a head. Solution to Question 5:

The sample space S of the experiment described in question 5 is as follows S = { (1,H),(2,H),(3,H),(4,H),(5,H),(6,H) (1,T),(2,T),(3,T),(4,T),(5,T),(6,T)}

Let E be the event "the die shows an odd number and the coin shows a head". Event E may be described as follows E={(1,H),(3,H),(5,H)}

The probability P(E) is given by P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 3 / 12 = 1 / 4

Question 6: A card is drawn at random from a deck of cards. Find the probability of getting the 3 of diamond. Solution to Question 6:

The sample space S of the experiment in question 6 is shwon below

Let E be the event "getting the 3 of diamond". An examination of the sample space shows that there is one "3 of diamond" so that n(E) = 1 and n(S) = 52. Hence the probability of event E occuring is given by P(E) = 1 / 52

Question 7: A card is drawn at random from a deck of cards. Find the probability of getting a queen. Solution to Question 7:

The sample space S of the experiment in question 7 is shwon above (see question 6) Let E be the event "getting a Queen". An examination of the sample space shows that there are 4 "Queens" so that n(E) = 4 and n(S) = 52. Hence the probability of event E occuring is given by P(E) = 4 / 52 = 1 / 13

Question 8: A jar contains 3 red marbles, 7 green marbles and 10 white marbles. If a marble is drawn from the jar at random, what is the probability that this marble is white? Solution to Question 8:

We first construct a table of frequencies that gives the marbles color distributions as follows

color red green white

frequency 3 7 10

We now use the empirical formula of the probability Frequency for white color P(E)=
________________________________________________

Total frequencies in the above table

= 10 / 20 = 1 / 2 Question 9: The blood groups of 200 people is distributed as follows: 50 have type A blood, 65 have B blood type, 70 have O blood type and 15 have type AB blood. If a person from this group is selected at random, what is the probability that this person has O blood type? Solution to Question 9:

We construct a table of frequencies for the the blood groups as follows group a B O AB frequency 50 65 70 15

We use the empirical formula of the probability Frequency for O blood P(E)=
________________________________________________

Total frequencies

= 70 / 200 = 0.35 Exercises: a) A die is rolled, find the probability that the number obtained is greater than 4.

b) Two coins are tossed, find the probability that one head only is obtained. c) Two dice are rolled, find the probability that the sum is equal to 5. d) A card is drawn at random from a deck of cards. Find the probability of getting the King of heart. Answers to above exercises: a) 2 / 6 = 1 / 3 b) 2 / 4 = 1 / 2 c) 4 / 36 = 1 / 9 d) 1 / 52