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(PROBABILITY SIR GEORGE PDF)

1. If a coin is tossed ten times then what will be the probability for getting 7 heads and 3 tails in 10
tosses?
A. 15/128 * C. 15/127
B. 17/128 D. 17/127

Solution: Binomial Theorem

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2. In an exam only ten percent students can qualify. If a group of 4 students have appeared, find
the probability that at most one student will qualify?
A. 0.927 C. 0.546
B. 0.729 * D. 0.645

Solution: Internet Solution with wrong calculation

3. In a restaurant seventy percent of people order for Chinese food and thirty percent for Italian
food. A group of three persons enter the restaurant. Find the probability of at least two of them
ordering for Italian food.
A. 0.72 C. 0.27 *
B. 0.54 D. 0.45

Solution: Internet Solution with wrong calculation

4. Suppose that 10% of inmates in a large prison are known to be innocent. A non-profit group
randomly selects 20 inmates from this prison. Find the probability the group will find at least 3
innocent inmates
A. 0.323 * C. 0.435
B. 0.896 D. 0.765

Solution: Poisson Theorem

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5. During a severe thunderstorm, any transmission line is damaged with probability 0.04,
independently of other transmission lines. A city with 75 transmission lines is hit by a severe
thunderstorm. What is the probability that at least 5 of them get damaged?
A. 0.815 C. 0.185 *
B. 0.518 D. 0.158

Solution: Poisson Theorem

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6. Each computer in a lab has a 15% chance to be infected with a virus. If a computer is infected, an
antivirus software finds the virus with probability 0.9. If a computer is not infected, the software
will still generate a false alarm and report a virus with probability 0.10. If the antivirus software
reports a virus, what is the probability that indeed, the computer is infected?
A. 29/44 C. 27/44 *
B. 7/25 D. 9/25

Solution:
Denote the events,
I = computer is infected
R = the software reports a virus
Given: P(I) = 0.15 , P(I) = 0.85, P(R|I) = 0.9 , P(R|I) = 0.1
By the Bayes Rule,

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7. The probability that a single person gets a test value between 74 and 78 for their exam score.
Assume that the exams are normally distributed with a mean of 82 and a standard deviation of
4.
A. 0.2359 C. 0.1359 *
B. 0.3359 D. 0.4359

Solution:
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To Find the z-score using calculator,

Press Mode 3 + Press AC
Shift 3 + Press 5 + Press 1
P(-1) = 0.1587
P(-2) = 0.0228

8. In a class, 40% of the students study math and science. 60% of the students study math. What is
the probability of a student studying science given he/she is already studying math?
A. 1/3 C. 2/3 *
B. 3/4 D. 1/2

Solution: Conditional Probability

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9. What is the probability of the occurrence of a number that is odd or less than 5 when a fair die is
rolled?
A. 1/6 C. 5/6 *
B. 1/3 D. 2/3
Solution: Dice Probability @ occurred at the same time

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10. Two cards are drawn together from a pack of 52 cards. The probability that one is a spade and
one is a heart, is:
A. 3/20 C. 29/34
B. 47/100 D. 13/102 *

Solution: Card Probability @ without replacement

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11. A bag contains blue and red balls. Two balls are drawn randomly without replacement. The
probability of selecting a blue and then a red ball is 0.2. The probability of selecting a blue ball in
the first draw is 0.5. What is the probability of drawing a red ball, given that the first ball drawn
was blue?
A. 0.4 * C. 0.2
B. 0.1 D. 0.5

Solution: Conditional Probability

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12. Consider another example where a pack contains 4 blue, 2 red and 3 black pens. If a pen is
drawn at random from the pack, replaced and the process repeated 2 more times. What is the
probability of drawing 2 blue pens and 1 black pen?
A. 16/243 * C. 17/243
B. 16/343 D. 17/343

Solution: random pick @ with replacement

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13. A pack contains 4 blue, 2 red and 3 black pens. If 2 pens are drawn at random from the pack,
NOT replaced and then another pen is drawn. What is the probability of drawing 2 blue pens and
1 black pen?
A. 1/14 * C. 3/14
B. 5/14 D. 9/14
Solution: random pick @ without replacement

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14. Tickets numbered 1 to 20 are mixed up and then a ticket is drawn at random. What is the
probability that the ticket drawn has a number which is a multiple of 3 or 5?
A. 1/2 C. 2/5
B. 8/15 D. 9/20 *

Solution:

Step -1: Finding the number of elements in the required event .

Let A be the event where the ticket drawn has a number which is a multiple of 3/5.

Hence, n(A)=9 as the event will contain elements 3,6,9,12,15,18,5,10,20.

Step -2: Finding the probability

Here, ( )
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We know that ( ) ( )
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Thus, the probability that the ticket drawn has a number which is a multiple of 3 or 5 is 9/20.

15. A bag contains 2 red, 3 green and 2 blue balls. Two balls are drawn at random. What is the
probability that none of the balls drawn is blue?
A. 10/21 * C. 11/21
B. 2/7 D. 5/7

Solution: random pick @ without replacement

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16. From a pack of 52 cards, two cards are drawn together at random. What is the probability of
both the cards being kings?
A. 1/15 C. 25/57
B. 35/256 D. 1/221 *

Solution: Card Probability @ without replacement

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17. From a bag containing 4 black balls and 5 white balls, two balls are drawn one at a time. Find the
probability that both balls are black. Assume that the 1st ball is returned before the second ball
is drawn.
A. 4/9 C. 16/81 *
B. 1/6 D. 5/9

Solution: random picked @ with replacement

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18. A bag contains 6 black and 8 white balls. One ball is drawn at random. What is the probability
that the ball drawn is white?
A. 3/ 4 C. 4/7 *
B. 1/8 D. 3/7

Solution:

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19. The lifespans of people in a certain city constitute a normal distribution with a mean of 72 years
and a standard deviation of 6 years. What is the probability that a randomly selected person
from the city will live more than 75 years?
A. 0.3085 * C. 0.4085
B. 0.5085 D. 0.6085

Solution:
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For solving calculator,

Press Mode and Press 3
Shift 1 and Press 5 and Press 3
R(0.5) = 0.3085

20. A scientist is measuring the speed of a projectile launched from a newly designed device. The
mean speed of the projectiles is known to be 315 meters per second with a standard deviation
of 11 meters per second. What is the maximum speed for 95% of the projectiles?
A. 333.3 m/s * C. 444.4 m/s
B. 555.5 m/s D. 666.6 m/s
Solution:

This problem reverses the logic of our approach slightly. We want to find the speed value x for which
the probability that the projectile is less than x is 95%. That is, we want to find x such
that ( ) . In reversing, ( ) . We now need to convert to a speed.

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21. A bag contains three white and five black balls. If two balls are drawn in succession without
replacement, determine the probability that both balls are white.
A. 1/14 C. 3/28 *
B. 4/7 D. 5/28

Solution: random picked @ without replacement

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22. How many outcomes are there in the sample space when two coins are tossed?
A.1 C. 2
B. 3 D. 4 *

Solution:

In one coin there are 2 sample spaces which are H and T. So if there are two coins tossed then there
are 4 sample spaces which are (HH, HT, TH, TT). The answer is 4.

23. A man is dealt 4 spade cards from an ordinary deck of 52 cards. If he is given three more cards,
find the probability p that at least one of the additional cards is also a spade.
A. 8157/17,296 * C. 7815/17,296
B. 8157/17,692 D. 7815/17,692

Solution:

Since he is dealt 4 spades, there are 52 - 4 = 48 cards remaining of which 13 - 4 = 9 are spades. There
are 48C3 = 17,296 ways in which he can be dealt three more cards. Since there are 48 - 9 = 39 cards
which are not spades, there are 39C3 = 9139 ways he can be dealt three cards which are not spades.
Thus the probability q that he is not dealt another spade is, .

Hence, ( )

24. We have two boxes. The first contains two green balls and seven red balls; the second contains
four green balls and three red balls. Bob selects a ball by first choosing one of the two boxes at
 random. He then selects one of the balls in this box at random. If Bob has selected a red ball,
what is the probability that he selected a ball from the first box?
A. 0.546 C. 0.654
B. 0.645 * D. 0.564

Solution:

25. The probability is 0.02 that an item produced by a factory is defective. A shipment of 10,000
items is sent to its warehouse. Find the standard deviation.
A. 24 C. 18
B. 14* D. 26
Solution:

Let p denote the probability of a defective item produced in the factory, so

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26. Products produced by a machine have a 3% defective rate. What is the probability that the first
defective occurs in the fifth item inspected
A. 0.01340 C. 0.01278
B. 0.02656 * D. 0.09823

Solution:

There is a 3% chance that each inspected item is defective so there’s a 97% chance is not defective.
These are 5 independent event so the probability is:

27. A collection of 15 transistors contains 3 that are defective. If 2 transistors are selected at
random, what is the probability that at least 1 of them is good?
A. 1/35 B. 1/5
B. 34/35 * D. 4/5

Solution:

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Thus, the probability of selecting at least one good transistor,

28. When two dice are rolled, what are the odds against getting doubles?
A. 1:5 C. 1:6
B. 5:1* D. 6:1

Solution:
29. Three coins are tossed; what is the probability of getting 3 heads if it is known that at least two
heads were obtained?
A. 1/4* C. 2/3
B. 1/2 D. 3/8

Solution: There is something wrong in the question. Let’s change the question and the answer will
also change. “Three coins are tossed; what is the probability of getting at least two heads.” This is
the new question for question 29.

Possible outcomes of tossing three coins are:

S = (HHH), (HHT), (HTH), (THH), (TTT), (TTH), (THT), (HTT)
Total Outcomes = 8
No. of Outcomes with at least two heads = 4

30. Bob is a high school basketball player. He is a 70% free throw shooter. That means his probability
of making a free throw is 0.70. During the season, what is the probability that Bob makes his
third free throw on his fifth shot?
A. 0.18522 * C. 0.34256
B. 0.67245 D. 0.29672

Solution: Negative Binomial Distribution

The probability of success (P) is 0.70, the number of trials (n) is 5, and the number of successes (r) is
3.
r n-r
n-1Cr-1(p) (q)
P = 5-1C3-1(0.7)3(0.3)2