Professional Documents
Culture Documents
14 Probability
14 Probability
Probability
Exercise: 15.1 (Page No: 308)
(iv) The sum of the probabilities of all the elementary events of an experiment
is __________.
(v) The probability of an event is greater than or equal to ___ and less than or
equal to __________.
Solution:
(ii) The probability of an event that cannot happen is 0. Such an event is called an
impossible event.
(iv) The sum of the probabilities of all the elementary events of an experiment is 1.
(v) The probability of an event is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal
to 1.
(i) A driver attempts to start a car. The car starts or does not start.
(ii) A player attempts to shoot a basketball. She/he shoots or misses the shot.
(iii) A trial is made to a solution: a true-false question. The solution is right or
wrong.
Solution:
(i) This statement does not have equally likely outcomes as the car may or may not
start depending upon various factors like fuel, etc.
(ii) This statement does not have equally likely outcomes as the player may shoot or
miss the shot.
(iii) This statement has equally likely outcomes as it is known that the solution is
either right or wrong.
(iv) This statement also has equally likely outcomes as it is known that the newly
born baby can either be a boy or a girl.
Solution:
The tossing of a coin is a fair way of deciding because the number of possible
outcomes is only 2, i.e. either head or tail. Since these two outcomes are equally
likely outcomes, tossing is unpredictable and is considered to be completely
unbiased.
Solution:
The probability of any event (E) always lies between 0 and 1, i.e. 0 ≤ P(E) ≤ 1. So,
from the above options, option (B) -1.5 cannot be the probability of an event.
Solution:
We know that,
P(E)+P(not E) = 1
∴ P(not E) = 0.95
6. A bag contains lemon-flavoured candies only. Malini takes out one candy
without looking into the bag. What is the probability that she will take out
Solution:
Solution:
We know,
P(E)+P(not E) = 1
∴ The probability that the 2 students have the same birthday is 0.008
10
8. A bag contains 3 red balls and 5 black balls. A ball is drawn at random from
the bag. What is the probability that the ball drawn is
(i) red?
Solution:
The total number of balls = No. of red balls + No. of black balls
We know that the probability of an event is the ratio between the number of
favourable outcomes and the total number of outcomes.
(i) Probability of drawing red balls = P (red balls) = (no. of red balls/total no. of balls)
= 3/8
(ii) Probability of drawing black balls = P (black balls) = (no. of black balls/total no. of
balls) = 5/8
9. A box contains 5 red marbles, 8 white marbles and 4 green marbles. One
marble is taken out of the box at random. What is the probability that the
marble taken out will be
(i) red?
(ii) white?
Solution:
Solution:
11. Gopi buys a fish from a shop for his aquarium. The shopkeeper takes out
one fish at random from a tank containing 5 male fish and 8 female fish (see
Fig. 15.4). What is the probability that the fish taken out is a male fish?
Solution:
(i) 8?
Solution:
∴ P (pointing at 8) = ⅛ = 0.125
Solution:
61
(ii) Total numbers lying between 2 and 6 = 3 (3, 4 and 5)
14. One card is drawn from a well-shuffled deck of 52 cards. Find the
probability of getting
(v) a spade
Solution:
15. Five cards, the ten, jack, queen, king and ace of diamonds, are well-
shuffled with their face downwards. One card is then picked up at random.
(ii) If the queen is drawn and put aside, what is the probability that the second
card picked up is (a) an ace? (b) a queen?
Solution:
(ii) If the queen is drawn and put aside, the total number of cards left is (5-4) = 4
Solution:
17. (i) A lot of 20 bulbs contain 4 defective ones. One bulb is drawn at random
from the lot. What is the probability that this bulb is defective?
(ii) Suppose the bulb drawn in (i) is not defective and is not replaced. Now one
bulb is drawn at random from the rest. What is the probability that this bulb is
not defective?
Solution:
So, the probability that the bulb is not defective = 15/19 = 0.789
18. A box contains 90 discs which are numbered from 1 to 90. If one disc is
drawn at random from the box, find the probability that it bears
Solution:
(Since 1 to 9 are single-digit numbers and so, total 2-digit numbers are 90-9 = 81)
(ii) Total number of perfect square numbers = 9 (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64 and 81)
19. A child has a die whose six faces show the letters as given below:
The die is thrown once. What is the probability of getting
(i) A?
(ii) D?
Solution:
P (getting D) = ⅙ = 0.166
20. Suppose you drop a die at random on the rectangular region shown in Fig.
15.6. What is the probability that it will land inside the circle with a diameter
1m?
Solution:
First, calculate the area of the rectangle and the area of the circle. Here, the area of
the rectangle is the possible outcome, and the area of the circle will be the
favourable outcome.
and,
∴ The probability that die will land inside the circle = [(π/4)/6] = π/24 or, 0.78/6 = 0.13
21. 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 it if it is defective.
The shopkeeper draws one pen at random and gives it to her. What is the
probability that
Solution:
(i) Total number of events in which she will buy them = 124
So, P (buying) = 124/144 = 31/36 = 0.86
53
(ii) Total number of events in which she will not buy them = 20
Solution:
(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)
(i) It is given that to get the sum as 2, the probability is 1/36 as the only possible
outcomes = (1,1)
For getting the sum as 3, the possible events (or outcomes) = E (sum 3) = (1,2) and
(2,1)
Similarly,
Event: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Sum on 2 dice
Probability 1/36 2/36 3/36 4/36 5/36 6/36 5/36 4/36 3/36 2/36 1/36
(ii) The argument is not correct as it is already justified in (i) that the number of all
possible outcomes is 36 and not 11.
63
23. 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.
Solution:
The total number of outcomes = 8 (HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, TTH, HTT, THT, TTT)
Total outcomes in which Hanif will lose the game = 6 (HHT, HTH, THH, TTH, HTT,
THT)
[Hint: Throwing a die twice and throwing two dice simultaneously are treated
as the same experiment]
Solution:
Outcomes are:
(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)
(i) Method 1:
P(A) = 6/36,
P(not B) = 5/6
So, P(not A) = 1-(6/36) = 5/6
Method 2:
∴ P(E) = 25/36
281
(ii) Number of events when 5 comes at least once = 11(5+6)
25. Which of the following arguments are correct and which are not correct?
Give reasons for your solution:
(i) If two coins are tossed simultaneously, there are three possible outcomes –
two heads, two tails or one of each. Therefore, for each of these outcomes, the
probability is 1/3
(ii) If a die is thrown, there are two possible outcomes – an odd number or an
even number. Therefore, the probability of getting an odd number is 1/2
Solution:
(i) All the possible events are (H,H); (H,T); (T,H) and (T,T)
(ii) Since the two outcomes are equally likely, this statement is correct.
1. Two customers, Shyam and Ekta, are visiting a particular shop in the same
week (Tuesday to Saturday). Each is equally likely to visit the shop on any day
as on another day. What is the probability that both will visit the shop on
Solution:
Since there are 5 days and both can go to the shop in 5 ways each so,
(i) The number of favourable events = 5 (Tue., Tue.), (Wed., Wed.), (Thu., Thu.),
(Fri., Fri.), (Sat., Sat.)
(iii) P (both visiting on different days) = 1-P (both visiting on the same day)
(i) even?
(ii) 6?
(iii) at least 6?
Solution:
+ 1 2 2 3 3 6
1 2 3 3 4 4 7
2 3 4 4 5 5 8
2 3 4 4 5 5 8
3 4 5 5 6 6 9
3 4 5 5 6 6 9
6 7 8 8 9 9 12
(i) E (Even) = 18
P (Even) = 18/36 = ½
(ii) E (sum is 6) = 4
3. A bag contains 5 red balls and some blue balls. If the probability of drawing
a blue ball
is double that of a red ball, determine the number of blue balls in the bag.
Solution:
Similarly,
x = 10
4. A box contains 12 balls, out of which x are black. If one ball is drawn at
random from the
If 6 more black balls are put in the box, the probability of drawing a black ball
is now
It’s given that the probability of drawing a black ball now is double of what it
was before.
(ii) = 2 × (i)
(x+6)/18 = 2 × (x/12)
x + 6 = 3x
2x = 6
∴x=3
5. A jar contains 24 marbles, some are green, and others are blue. If a marble
is drawn at
random from the jar, the probability that it is green is ⅔. Find the number of
blue balls
in the jar.
Solution:
Total marbles = 24
49
Practising these NCERT Solutions for Class 10 is very important from the CBSE
Board examination point of view. Probability is one of the chapters in Class 10 Maths
that contains the concepts that are most likely to be used in daily life. The chapter
deals with different topics related to probability, which include:
Along with the NCERT Solutions, students can also practise the other textbook
solutions to understand the concepts in a much better way.
Disclaimer –
Dropped Topics –
15.1 Introduction
Exercise 15.2 (Optional)
Frequently Asked Questions on NCERT Solutions for
Class 10 Maths Chapter 15
Q1
What are the key benefits of learning NCERT Solutions for Class 10
Maths Chapter 15?
The answers to NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Maths Chapter 15 have come in handy. This
makes it easy to clear all the doubts related to probability. Solved all the questions easily which
have been given for assignments by the Class 10 students.