PROBABILITY

EXERCISE NO. 1
I. Coins
1. An unbiased coin is tossed. Find the probability of getting.
i. a head or a tail.
ii. neither of these.
2. Three unbiased coins are tossed. Find the probability of.
a. getting at least two heads up.
b. getting at least one head up.
3. A coin is tossed three times. Write the sample space. Find the probabilities of the following events.
a. E1 : getting two or more heads.
b. E2 : the second is not a head.
c. getting at least one head.
II. Dice
1. An unbiased die is thrown. Find the probability of getting:
a. an odd number.
b. a number greater than 2.
c. a number divisible by 2.
d. a number upto 5.
2. Two dice are thrown. Find the probability that the sum of the numbers on the uppermost faces is 8.
3. Two unbiased deice are thrown. Find the probability that:
a. the sum of numbers on their upper most faces is
i. upto 4 ii. Greater than 4 iii. At least 11.
b. the score on the second die is greater than the score on the first die.
III. Cards.
1. A card is drawn from a pack of well shuffled 52 playing cards. Find the probability that the card drawn is:
a. a diamond
b. a red card.
c. a king
d. an ace or a queen.
e. a face card
f. a card bearing a number between and including 2 and 6.
2. From a well shuffled pack of 52 cards, two cards are drawn at random. Find the probability that
a. both are kings.
b. one is a kind and the other is a queen.
3. From a well shuffled pack of 52 cards, 3 cards are drawn at random. Find the probability that the three cards
drawn contain two kings and one ace.
IV. A Mixed Bag (Box or Batch)
1. A box contains 5 red, 11 white and 7 black balls. One ball is drawn at random. Find the probability that the
ball drawn is a white ball.
2. In a bag there are 6 black, 4 white and 3 yellow balls. A ball is taken at random. Find the probability of getting
a yellow or a white ball.
3. A box contains 7 red, 5 white and 8 green balls identical in all respects except colour. One ball is drawn at
random. Find the probability that it is not white.
4. A bag contains 7 white balls, 5 black balls, 4 red balls. If two balls are drawn at random from the bag, find the
probability that one is black and the other is red.
5. A box contains 4 white and 6 black balls. Two balls are drawn at random. Find the probability that both are of
the same colour.
6. A bag contains 6 white and 9 black balls. If 3 balls are drawn at random, find the probability that all of them
are black.
7. In a batch of 400 bolts, 50 are found to be defective. A bolt is selected at random from the batch. Find the
probability that it a non – defective.
8. A lot of 400 articles manufactured in a factory contains 50 defective articles. If two articles are picked from
the lot at random, find the probability that they are non – defective.
V. P (at least one) = 1 – P (none)
1. A room has 3 lamps. From a collection of 10 light bulbs of which 6 are not good, a person selects 3 at random
and puts them in the sockets. What is the probability that he will have light from.
i. no lamp ii. At least one lamp?
2. A room has 3 electric lamps. From a collection of 12 electric bulbs of which 6 are good, 3 bulbs are selected at
random and put in the lamps. Find the probability that the room is
i. dark ii. Lighted by at least one of the bulbs.
3. From a well shuffled pack of cards, 3 cards drawn at random. Find the probability that
i. none is a heart ii. Atleast one is a heart.
4. Committee of four is to be formed from a group of 8 boys and 4 girls. Find the probability that the committee
contains.
i. all boys ii. Atleast one girl.
VI. General Category
1. Six boys and two girls are to be seated in a row for a photograph. Find the probability that the girls are
not together.
2. Seven books on Physics and four on Mathematics are to be arranged at random on a shelf. Find the
probability that the books on Mathematics do not stand next to each other.
3. A team of 5 is to be selected from 8 boys and 3 girls. Find the probability that it includes exactly 2 girls.
4. A committee of four is to be formed from 10 boys and 1 girls at random. Find the probability that the
girl is included.
EXERCISE NO. 2.
1. A card is drawn from a pack. Find the probability that
a. It is a heart or an ace.
b. it is a red card or bears a number between and including 3 and 7.
c. it is a spade or a picture card.
d. it is a king or a queen.
e. it is a black card or a king.
2. Two dice are rolled. Find the probability that the sum of the numbers on the uppermost fact is
a. an even number of a perfect square.
b. a perfect square or a number less than 5.
c. divisible by 2 or 3.
d. divisible by 2 of 4.
e. a prime number or a number greater than 8.
f. 7 or 10.
3.
a. There are 100 lottery tickets, numbered from 1 to 100. One of them is drawn at random. What
is the probability that the number on it is multiple of 5 or 7?
b. There are 15 tickets bearing numbers from 1 to 15 in a bag. One ticket is drawn from the bag
at random. Find the probability that the ticket bears a number which is even or a multiple of 4.
c. Each of the numbers 1, 2, 3, …………, 20 is written on a separate card and the cards are
placed in a box. Find the probability that a card drawn at random from the box bears.
i. an odd number or a number divisible by 3.
ii. a number divisible by 2 or 3.
iii. A number divisible by 2 or 5.
iv. A number divisible by 3 or greater than 8.
4. One lottery ticket is drawn at random from a set of 40 tickets numbered from 1 to 40. What is the probability
that the number on the ticket drawn is divisible by (a) 2 and 3 (b) 3 or 4?
5. A bag contains 30 counters numbered from 1 to 30. One counter is drawn at random. Find the probability that
the number on the other counter is a multiple of (a) 5 or 7 (b) 5 or 6 (c) 5 and 7.
6. The probability that a person stopping at a petrol pump will ask for petrol is 0.80, the probability that he will
ask for water is 0.70 and the probability that he will ask for both is 0.65. Find the probability that a person
stopping at this petrol pump will ask for (a) either petrol or water. (b) neither petrol nor water.
7. The probability that a certain new film will get an award for its story is 0.23, the probability that it will get an
award for its music is 0.15, while the probability that it will get an award for both is 0.07. What is the probability
that the film will get an award for (a) at least one of the two. (b) exactly one of the two?
8. Sixty percent of persons staying in a building read ‘Express’, fifty presence read ‘times’, while thirty percent
of them read both. Find the probability that a randomly chosen person staying in the building reads Atleast one
of the two.
EXERCISE NO. 3.
1. If P (A) = 2/5; P (B) = 5/12 and P (A n B) = 1/6 show that A and B are independent events.
2. A fair die is thrown, event A is that score is even number and event B is that score is divisible by 3.
Show that A and B are independent events.
3. If P(A) = 0.6, P(B) = 0.2 and P(A U B) = 0.8 then examine whether A and B are independent events.
4. If A, B and C are independent events and P(A n B) = 1/2 , P(B n C) = 1/3 and P(A n C) = 1/6 then find
values of P(A), P(B) and P(C).
5. If A and B are the events of the sample space S such that they are independent and P(A) = 3/5 and P(B’)
= 2/3 then find P(A n B) and P(A n B)’.
6. Six boys and two girls are to be seated in a row for a photograph. Find the probability that girls are not
together.
7. Six boys and two girls are to be seated in a row for a photograph. Find the probability that girls are not
together.
8. 5 books of Physics and 3 books of Mathematics are arranged on a shelf. Find the probability that the 3
books of Mathematics are always together.
9. 3 books of Accountancy, 4 books of Economics are arranged in a row on a shelf at random. Find the
probability that the books of the same subjects will be put together.
10. From a group of 5 men and 4 women, 4 persons are selected at random, to form a committee. What is
the probability that the committee contains 3 men and a woman?
11. From a group of 4 men, 3 women and 5 children, 4 persons are selected. Find the probability that the
group selected consists of two men, one woman and one child.
12. The letters of the word “THURSDAY” are arranged in all possible ways. Find the probability that the
arrangement i. begins with T and ends with U. ii. begins with T.
13. A committee of 5 persons is to be formed from 6 teachers and 4 boys. Find the probability of the event
that the committee contain at least 2 boys.
14. Two boys and a girl are to be seated in a row. Find the probability that the girl occupies the extreme right
seat.
15. One group contains 4 boys and 3 girls and another contains 3 boys and 6 girls. One person is transferred
from first group to second and then a person is selected from second group. Find the probability that the
person selected is a boy.
16. Two cards are drawn one after other from a pack of 52 cards. Find the probability that both the cards are
kings, when i. The first card is replaced. ii. The first card is not replaced.
17. A card is removed from a pack of cards and then a second card is drawn. Find the probability that i. both
are face cards, ii. Both are red. Iii. Both are kings.
18. From a well shuffled pack of 52 cards, two cards are drawn at random. Find the probability that both the
cards are diamonds when i. the first card is kept a side. Ii. The first card drawn is replaced in
the pack.
EXERCISE NO. 4.
1. If the chance of A winning a race is 1/6 and the chance of B winning it is 1/8, what is the chance that
neither should win?
2. The probability of A winning the race is 1/5 and the probability of B winning the race is 1/4. Find the
probability that neither should win.
3. The probability that A can win a race is 5/8 and the probability that B can win a race is 1/6. If both run in
a race, find the probability that one of them will win the race, assuming that both cannot win together.
4. A problem is given to three students A, B, C whose chances of solving it are 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 respectively.
Find the probability that the problem will be solved.
5. The probability that A can solve an example is 1/5 and the probability that B can solve it is 1/2. What is
the probability that both will solve a given example while trying independently?
6. The probability that a student A can solve a problem is 1/3, that B can solve it is 1/2 and that C can solve
it is 1/4. If all of them try it independently, what is the probability that the problem is solved?
7. Probability that a contractor will get plumbing contract is 4/9 and he will not get an electrical contract is
1/3. If the probability of getting at least one of the two contracts is 4/5 then find the probability that he
will get both the contracts.
 8. In a class of 100 students, 60 drink tea, 50 drink coffee and 30 drink both. A student from this class is
selected at random. Find the probability that the student takes at least one of the two drinks.
9. The probability that a man will be alive for 60 years is 3/5 and that his wife will be alive for 60 years is
2/3. Find the probability that i. both will be alive for 60 years. ii. Only the man will be alive
for 60 years. iii. None will be alive for 60 years.
10. Three boys Suresh, Ramesh and Nilesh are staying in a hostel. In spite of several warnings they are often
late in returning after an outing. Their chances of being late are 1/2, 2/3 and 1/3 respectively. If one boy
is selected at random and allowed to go out, what is the chance of his coming late?
11. Theorems :-
i. If A and B are the events of the sample S, then prove that P(AUB) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A n
B).
ii. If A and B are the events of the sample S, then prove that P(AUB) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A n
B). Hence if A and B are disjoint (mutually exclusive) events, deduce that P(AUB) = P(A) +
P(B).
iii. If A and B are mutually exclusive events, then prove that P (AUB) = P (A) + P (B).
iv. If A is an event of sample space S, then prove that P(A) + P(A’) = 1.
v. If A is an event of sample space S and A’ is compliment event then prove that P(A’) = 1 -
P(A) .
vi. If A and B are independent events then show that A’ and B’ are also independent events.
vii. If A and B are two dependent events then prove that P(A n B) = P(A) . P(B/A). Hence prove
that if A and B are independent events then P(A n B) = P(A) . P(B)

12. Define:-
i. Mutually exclusive events.
ii. Independent events.
iii. Sample space and Event.
iv. Union of Events.
v. Intersection of Events.
vi. Exhaustive Events.
vii. Complementary events.

EXERCISE NO. 5.
1. The probability that a student is not a swimmer is 1/5. Out of 5 students considered, find the probability
that Atleast 4 are swimmers.
2. On an average A can solve 40% of the problems. What is the probability of A solving exactly four
problems out of 6?
3. On an average, 60% of the cases reported to the police file are solved. If 5 new cases are reported, what
is the probability that Atleast 4 of them will be solved?
4. 60% of the T.V viewers watch, ‘Chayya Geet’. If 5 T.V viewers are selected at random. What is the
probability that 4 of them watch ‘Chayya Geet’?
5. An unbiased coin is tossed 8 times. Find the probability of getting 4 heads.
6. A marksman’s chance of hitting a target is 4/5. If he fires 5 shot, what is the probability of his hitting the
target exactly twice?
7. The probability that a student is not a swimmer is 1/5. Out of 5 students considered, find the probability
that 3 of them are swimmers.
8. A fair coin is tossed 5 times. Find the probability of getting exactly two heads.
9. If the chance that any one of the 5 telephone line is busy at any instant is 1/10. Find the probability that
all the lines are busy.
10. An unbiased coin is tossed 4 times. Find the probability of getting at least 2 heads.
11. An unbiased coin is tossed 6 times. Find the probability of getting Atleast 4 heads.
12. It is observed that on an average 3 persons out of 7 are swimmers. Find the probability that no person
out of 4 is a swimmer.
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