PROBABILITY

SAMPLE QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1:

If there are n people in a classroom, what is the probability that no pair of them celebrates their
birthday on the same day of the year?

SOLUTION: To simplify assumptions, let us discard 29 February as a possible birthday and let us
assume that a year has 365 days. There are 365n n-tuples, each slot being the possibility of a day
of the year for each person. The number of ways in which no two people have the same birthday
is - 365 364 363 (365 n + 1), as the first person can have his birthday in 365
days, the second in 364 days, etc. Thus if A is the event that no two people have the same
birthday, then
P (A) = [365 364 363 (365 n + 1)] / 365n
.
The probability sought is
P(Ac) = 1 P(A) = 1 { [365 364 363 (365 n + 1)] / 365n }.

QUESTION 2:

Two distinguishable dice have probabilities p, and 1 respectively of throwing a 6. One of the dice
is chosen at random and thrown. A 6 appeared.
1. Find the probability of throwing a 6.
2. What is the probability that one simultaneously chooses die I and one throws a 6?
3. What is the probability that the die chosen was the first one?

SOLUTION:

QUESTION 3:
Let 2 items be chosen at random from a lot containing 12 items of which 4 are defective. Let A =
(both items are defective) and B = (both items are non-defective). Find P(A) and P(B).

SOLUTION:
Now, S can occur in 12 C 2 = 66 ways, the number of ways that 2 items can be chosen from 12
items;
A can occur in 4 C 2 = 6 ways, the number of ways that 2 defective items can be chosen from 4
defective items;
B can occur in 8 C 2 = 28 ways, the number of ways that 2 non-defective items can be chosen from
8 non-defective items. Accordingly, P(A) = 6/66 = 1/11 and P(B) = 28/66 = 14/33.

QUESTION 4:
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.

SOLUTION:
Since he is dealt 4 spades, there are 52 - 4 = 48 cards remaining of which 13 - 4 = 9 are spades.
There are 48 C 3 = 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 39 C 3 = 9139 ways he can be dealt three cards which
are not spades. Thus the probability q that he is not dealt another spade is q = 9139/17,296;
Hence p = 1 - q = 8157/17,296.

QUESTION 5:
We are given three urns as follows:
Urn A contains 3 red and 5 white marbles.
Urn B contains 2 red and 1white marble.
Urn C contains 2 red and 3 white marbles.
An urn is selected at random and a marble is drawn from the urn. If the marble is red, what is the
probability that it came from urn A?

SOLUTION:
P (A intersection R) = 1/8.
P (R) = 173/360.
P (A|R) = (1/8) / (173/360) = 45/173.

QUESTION 6:
A is one of the 6 horses in a race, and is to be ridden by one of two jockeys B and C. It is 2 to 1 that
B rides A, in which case all the horses are equally likely to win. If C rides A, his chance of winning
is tripled. What are the odds against winning of A?

ANSWER:
13:5

QUESTION 7:
Three numbers are chosen at random from 1 to 20. The probability that they are consecutive is?

ANSWER:
3/190

QUESTION 8:
A locker can be opened by dialling a fixed three digit code (between 000 and 999). Don, a
terrorist, only knows that the number is a three digit number and has only one six. Using this
information he tries to open the locker by dialling three digits at random. The probability that he
succeeds in his endeavour is?

ANSWER:
1/243

QUESTION 9:
A party of N people sit at a round table. Find the odds against two specified persons sitting next
to each other.

ANSWER:
(N-3)/2

QUESTION 10:
A number is chosen at random from the set {1, 2, . . . , 1000}. What is the probability that it is a
palindrome?

SOLUTION:

QUESTION 11:
Three of the six vertices of a regular hexagon are chosen at random. The probability that the
triangle with these vertices is equilateral is?
ANSWER:
1/10

QUESTION 12:
Two digits are selected at random from the digits 1through 9. If the sum is even, find the
probability p that both numbers are odd.

SOLUTION:
The sum is even if both numbers are even or if both numbers are odd. There are 4 even numbers
(2, 4, 6, 8); hence there are 4 C 2 = 6 ways to choose two even numbers. There are 5 odd numbers
(1, 3, 5, 7, 9); hence there are 5 C 2 = 10 ways to choose two odd numbers. Thus there are 6 + 10
= 16 ways to choose two numbers such that their sum is even; since 10 of these ways occur when
both numbers are odd, p = 10/16 = 5/8.

QUESTION 13:
If from each of the three boxes containing 3 white and 1 black, 2 white and 2 black, 1 white and 3
black balls, one ball is drawn at random, then the probability that 2 white and 1 black will be
drawn is?
ANSWER:

13/32