PROBABILITY

Discussions

Dividing the money

P(A wins) = P(B wins) =0.5 Jackpot = Rs. 600 Set of 5 games A wins the first two, B wins the third

Solution
What could happen in the last two

games? 4 possibilities (A, A), (A, B), (B, A), (B, B) A has a chance of winning the jackpot!

Biased coin
How can a biased coin be used for a fair

coin toss?

The accident
Two types of cabs - Blue and Red Blue 15, Red 75 Witness says the accident was done by a blue

cab Witness has a 4/5 chance of correctly identifying the color of the cab Which cab has a higher chance of being involved in the accident?

Solution
Blue involved Blue witness Red witness Total 15 x 4/5 = 12 15 x 1/5 = 3 15 Red involved 75 x 1/5 = 15 75 x 4/5 = 60 75 Total 27 63 90

Triangles
If you chose a random triangle, what is the probability of it

being an obtuse-angled triangle?

Visualization

The sleeping beauty problem

Put to sleep on Sunday Woken once or twice based on a coin toss Heads woken on Monday and interviewed Tails woken on Monday and Tuesday, and

interviewed Interview what is the probability that the coin landed heads?

Thirder position
1000 coin tosses 500 heads, 500 tails Total 1500 interviews, 500 favoring

heads and 1000 favoring tails Hence, P(Heads) =1/3

Halfer position
Only one coin toss during one

experiment Hence, P(heads) =P(tails) =1/2

Phenomenalist position
Prize for each correct guess Favorable to say tails Thirder

position If guess on Monday only valid Halfer position

Boarding a plane
100 people board a plane, every person has an assigned

seat The first person loses his boarding pass, takes a random seat Following that, every person either sits in their assigned seat, if it is available or choses a seat randomly When the 100th passenger enters, what is the probability that he/she finds his/her correct seat?

Chess challenge
Chance of winning against your brother is , against your

father is 1/20 You can play 3 games and have to win two in a row i.e., first and second or second and third Two options BFB or FBF Which option do you choose to maximize chances of winning?

Strange dice
Dice A 0, 0, 4, 4, 4, 4 Dice B 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 Dice C 2, 2, 2, 2, 6, 6 Dice D 1, 1, 1, 5, 5, 5 You choose one die, the opponent chooses another Both the players roll their respective die, whoever gets a

higher number wins Which die do you choose to maximize the chances of winning?