1.

Example:

At a car park there are 100 vehicles, 60 of which are cars, 30 are vans and the remainder are
lorries. If every vehicle is equally likely to leave, find the probability of:

a) van leaving first. 

Solution:

a) Let S be the sample space and A be the event of a van leaving first.

n(S) = 100 
n(A) = 30

Probability of a van leaving first:

b) Let B be the event of a lorry leaving first.

n(B) = 100 – 60 – 30 = 10

Probability of a lorry leaving first:

c) If either a lorry or van had left first, then there would be 99 vehicles remaining, 60 of which
are cars. Let T be the sample space and C be the event of a car leaving.

n(T) = 99 
n(C) = 60

Probability of a car leaving after a lorry or van has left:

A survey was taken on 30 classes at a school to find the total number of left-handed students in
each class. The table below shows the results:

No. of left-handed students 0 1 2 3 4 5

A class was selected at random.

a) Find the probability that the class has 2 left-handed students. 

Solution:

a) Let S be the sample space and A be the event of a class having 2 left-handed students.

n(S) = 30 
n(A) = 5 
b) Let B be the event of a class having at least 3 left-handed students.
n(B) = 12 + 8 + 2 = 22 
c) First find the total number of left-handed students:
No. of left-handed students, x 0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency, f (no. of classes) 1 2 5 12 8 2
fx 0 2 10 36 32 10

Total no. of left-handed students = 2 + 10 + 36 + 32 + 10 = 90

Here, the sample space is the total number of students in the 30 classes, which was given as 960.

Let T be the sample space and C be the event that a student is left-handed.

n(T) = 960 
n(C) = 90 

3. Question 2
3. 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 
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

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 
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 outcomes 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 outcomes, E = S, give a sum less than 13, hence. 
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 36 / 36 = 1

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 
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
 
6. A card is drawn at random from a deck of cards. Find the probability of getting the 3 of
diamond. Solution 
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
occurring is given by 
P(E) = 1 / 52

7. A card is drawn at random from a deck of cards. Find the probability of getting a queen.
Solution 
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 occurring is given by 
P(E) = 4 / 52 = 1 / 13
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 
We first construct a table of frequencies that gives the marbles color distributions as follows 

color frequency
red 3
green 7
white 10
We now use the empirical formula of the probability 
P(E) = Frequency for white color / Total frequencies in the above table 
= 10 / 20 = 1 / 2
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 
We construct a table of frequencies for the the blood groups as follows
group frequency
a 50
B 65
O 70
AB 15
We use the empirical formula of the probability 
P(E) = Frequency for O blood / Total frequencies 
= 70 / 200 = 0.35

10. ABCD is a square. M is the midpoint of BC and N is the midpoint of CD. A point is
selected at random in the square. Calculate the probability that it lies in the triangle MCN.

Solution:

Let 2x be the length of the square.

Area of square = 2x × 2x = 4x2

Area of triangle MCN is 

11. 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?
Solution:
Explanation: Here, S = {1, 2, 3, 4, ...., 19, 20}.
Let E = event of getting a multiple of 3 or 5 = {3, 6 , 9, 12, 15, 18, 5, 10, 20}.
P(E) = n(E)/n(S) = 9/20.
12. 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?
Solution:
Explanation:

13. In a box, there are 8 red, 7 blue and 6 green balls. One ball is picked up randomly. What
is the probability that it is neither red nor green?
Solution
Explanation:
14. In a box, there are 8 red, 7 blue and 6 green balls. One ball is picked up randomly. What
is the probability that it is neither red nor green?
Solution:

Explanation:

14. What is the probability of getting a sum 9 from two throws of a dice?
Solution:

Explanation:

15. Three unbiased coins are tossed. What is the probability of getting at most two heads?
Solution:
Explanation:

16. In a class, there are 15 boys and 10 girls. Three students are selected at random. The
probability that 1 girl and 2 boys are selected, is:

Solution:
Explanation:

17. In a lottery, there are 10 prizes and 25 blanks. A lottery is drawn at random. What is the
probability of getting a prize?

Solution:

Explanation: P (getting a prize) = 10/(10+25) = 10/35 = 2/7.

18. From a pack of 52 cards, two cards are drawn together at random. What is the probability
of both the cards being kings?

Solution:

Explanation:
19. Two dice are tossed. The probability that the total score is a prime number is:

Solution:

Explanation:

20. Two dice are thrown simultaneously. What is the probability of getting two numbers
whose product is even?

Solution:

Explanation: