Probability - Practice Questions : Dice

1.

What is the probability of getting at least one six in a single throw of three unbiased dice? (1) 1 / 6 (2) 125 / 216 (3) 1 / 36 (4) 81 / 216 (5) 91 / 216 Correct choice is (5) and Correct Answer is 91 / 216 Explanatory Answer Every die has got six sides. Each of the sides is numbered from 1 to 6. When a single unbiased die is thrown you can have six possible outcomes. When two dice are thrown simultaneously, the total number of outcomes will be 6 * 6 = 36 Similarly, when three dice are thrown simultaneously, the total number of outcomes will be 6*6*6=216. We need to find out the number of cases in which at least one of the facing sides shows 6. At least one means - either one dice or two dice or all three. Case 1: Let us take the easiest case first - all three dice showing '6' - There is only one such possibility. Case 2: The number of cases in which two of the dice show 6 and one of them is a different number. For eg an event like 6 6 5 will be one of the outcomes for case 2. As two of the dice show '6' , it can happen in only one way. The third die shows a different number, a number other than 6, and it can be any of the 5 other numbers. Therefore, there will 5 possible options i.e. (1, 6, 6), (2, 6, 6), (3, 6, 6), (4, 6, 6), (5, 6, 6). However, each of these possibilities can have three different arrangements depending upon where the third different digit appears. For example take (1, 6, 6) case - it will have three options (1, 6, 6), (6, 1, 6), (6, 6, 1). Therefore, the total number of events in which 2 of the dice will show '6' and one will show a different number = 5*3 = 15 cases. Case 3: When only one of the die shows '6' and the other two show numbers other than '6'. The die showing '6' has only one option. The other two dice can have any of the '5' options. Therefore, the total number of possibilities = 1*5*5 = 25. However, the die showing '6' can either be the first die or the second die or the third die. Therefore, there are a total of 25 * 3 = 75 possibilities. Total possible outcomes where at least one die shows '6' = Case 1 + Case 2 + Case 3 = 1 + 15 +75 = 91. Therefore, the required probability = Alternate approach: Find the number of cases in which none of the digits show a '6'.

i.e. all three dice show a number other than '6', 5 * 5 *5 = 125 cases. Total possible outcomes when three dice are thrown = 216. The number of outcomes in which at least one die shows a '6' = Total possible outcomes when three dice are thrown - Number of outcomes in which none of them show '6'. = 216 - 125 = 91. The required probability =

2. What

is the probability that a two digit number selected at random will be a multiple of '3' and not a multiple of '5'? (1) 2 / 15 (2) 4 / 15 (3) 1 / 15 (4) 4 / 90 Correct Answer - (2) Solution: There are a total of 90 two digit numbers. Every third number will be divisible by '3'. Therefore, there are 30 of those numbers that are divisible by '3'. Of these 30 numbers, the numbers that are divisible by '5' are those that are multiples of '15'. i.e. numbers that are divisible by both '3' and '5'. There are 6 such numbers -- 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90. We need to find out numbers that are divisible by '3' and not by '5', which will be 30 - 6 = 24. 24 out of the 90 numbers are divisible by '3' and not by '5'. The required probability is therefore, 3. A man bets on number 16 on a roulette wheel 14 times and losses each time. On the 15th span he does a quick calculation and finds out that the number 12 had appeared twice in the 14 spans and is therefore, unable to decide whether to bet on 16 or 12 in the 15th span. Which will give him the best chance and what are the odds of winning on the bet that he takes? (Roulette has numbers 1 to 36) (1) 16; 22 : 14 (2) 12; 72 : 1 (3) 12; 7 : 1 (4) Either; 35 : 1 Correct Answer - (4) Solution: Each of the span is an independent event and the outcome of the 15th span will not depend on the outcome of the earlier spans.

4. Two squares are chosen at random on a chessboard. What is the probability that they have a side in common?

(1) 1 / 18 (2) 64 / 4032 (3) 63 / 64 (4) 1 / 9 Correct Answer - (1) Solution: The number of ways of choosing the first square is 64. The number of ways of choosing the second square is 63. There are a total of 64 * 63 = 4032 ways of choosing two squares. If the first square happens to be any of the four corner ones, the second square can be chosen in 2 ways. If the first square happens to be any of the 24 squares on the side of the chess board, the second square can be chosen in 3 ways. If the first square happens to be any of the 36 remaining squares, the second square can be chosen in 4 ways. Hence the desired number of combinations = (4 * 2) + (24 * 3) + (36 * 4) = 224. Therefore, the required probability = .

5. When two dice are thrown simultaneously, what is the probability that the sum of the two numbers that turn up is less than 11? (1) 5 / 6 (2) 11 / 12

(3) 1 / 6 (4) 1 / 12 Correct Answer - (2) Solution: Instead of finding the probability of this event directly, we will find the probability of the nonoccurrence of this event and subtract it from 1 to get the required probability. Combination whose sum of 12 is (6,6) Combinations whose sum of 11 is (5,6), (6,5). Therefore, there are totally 3 occurrences out of 36 occurrences that satisfy the given condition. Probability whose sum of two numbers is greater than or equal to 11 = 3 / 36 = 1 / 12. Hence probability whose sum of two numbers is lesser than 11 = 1 - 1 / 12 = 11 / 12.

6. When 4 dice are thrown, what is the probability that the same number appears on each of them? (1) 1/36 (2) 1/18

(3) 1/216 (4) 1/5 Correct Answer - (3) Solution: Sample space (Denominator): When 4 dice are thrown simultaneously, then the total number of possible outcomes is 64 = 1296

Event (Numerator): The chances that all the dice show same number (1,1,1,1), (2,2,2,2), (3,3,3,3), (4,4,4,4), (5,5,5,5), (6,6,6,6)} is 6. Probability = Event/ Sample space = 6/64 = 1/63 = 1/216.

7. An experiment succeeds twice as often as it fails. What is the probability that in the next 5 trials there will be four successes? (1) 0 (2) (2/3)^4

(3) 5*((2/3)^4)*(1/3) (4) ((2/3)^4)*(1/3) Correct Answer - (3) Solution: An experiment succeeds twice as often as it fails. i.e. the probability of its success is 2/3 and the probability of its failure is 1/3. In the next 5 trials the experiment needs to succeed in 4 out of the 5 trials. 4 out of the 5 trials in which it succeeds could be selected in 5C4 ways = 5 ways. And as 4 of them are successes, they have a probability of 2/3 and the one that is a failure will have a probability of 1/3. Hence, the required probability = 5*((2/3)^4)*(1/3)

8. An anti aircraft gun can fire four shots at a time. If the probabilities of the first, second, third and the last shot hitting the enemy aircraft are 0.7, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.4, what is the probability that four shots aimed at an enemy aircraft will bring the aircraft down? (1) 0.084 (2) 0.916

(3) 0.036 (4) 0.964 Correct Answer - (4). Solution: The enemy aircraft will be brought down even if one of the four shots hits the aircraft. The opposite of this situation is that none of the four shots hit the aircraft. The probability that none of the four shots hit the aircraft is given by (1-0.7)(1-0.6)(1-0.5)(10.4) = 0.3*0.4*0.5*0.6 = 0.036 So, the probability that at least one of the four hits the aircraft = 1 0.036 = 0.964.

9. A number is selected at random from first thirty natural numbers. What is the chance that it is a multiple of either 3 or 13? (1) 17/30 (2) 2/5

(3) 11/30 (4) 4/15 Correct Answer - (2) Solution: The probability that the number is a multiple of 3 is 10/30. (Since 3*10 = 30). Similarly the probability that the number is a multiple of 13 is 2/30. {Since 13*2 = 26). Neither 3 nor 13 has common multiple from 1 to 30. Hence these events are mutually exclusive events. Therefore chance that the selected number is a multiple of 3 or 13 is (10+2)/30 = 2/5

10. A man can hit a target once in 4 shots. If he fires 4 shots in succession, what is the probability that he will hit his target?
(1) 1 (2)

(3)

(4)

Correct choice - (4) Correct Answer -( Explanatory Answer

The man will hit the target even if he hits it once or twice or thrice or all four times in the four shots that he takes. So, the only case where the man will not hit the target is when he fails to hit the target even in one of the four shots that he takes. The probability that he will not hit the target in one shot = 1 =

Therefore, the probability that he will not hit the target in all the four shots =

Hence, the probability that he will hit the target at least in one of the four shots = 1= .