PROBABILITY

1.

n different books (n 3) are put at random in a shelf. Among these books there is a particular
book 'A' and a particular book B. The probability that there are exactly 'r' books between A
and B is
(A)

2.

2
n (n 1)

(B)

2(n r 1)
n (n 1)

(C)

2(n r 2)
n (n 1)

(D)

(n r)
n (n 1)

Let Pn is the probability. that n throws of a die contain an odd number of sixes, then
(A) Pn 2 Pn 1

(B) 6 Pn 5Pn1 1

(C) 4 Pn 3Pn1 1

(D) 6 Pn 4 Pn 1 1

3 Normal dice, one red, one blue and one green are rolled all three simultaneously. Let P be
the probability that the sum of the numbers on the red and blue dice is equal to the number
on the green die. If P is the written in lowest terms as a/b then the value of (a + b) equals
(A) 79
(B) 77
(C) 61
(D) 57

4.

Let a red die, a blue die, a green die and a white die are rolled once, the dice being fair. The
outcomes on the red, blue, green and white die denote the numbers a, b, c and d respectively.
Let E denotes the event that absolute value of (a 1)(b 2)(c 3)(d 6) = 1, then P(E) is
(A)

6.

1
648

(C)

2
324

(D)

1
162

Two cubes have their faces painted either red or blue. The first cube has five red faces and one
blue face. When the two cubes are rolled simultaneously, the probability that the two top faces
show the same colour is 1/2. Number of red faces on the second cube, is
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4
An urn contains 10 balls coloured either black or red. When selecting two balls from the urn at
random, the probability that a ball of each colour is selected is 8 15 . Assuming that the urn contains
more black balls than red balls, the probability that at least one black ball is selected, when selecting
two balls, is
(A)

7.

(B)

PA

5.

1
324

3.

18
45

(B)

30
45

(C)

39
45

(D)

41
45

A bag contains 3 black and 7 white balls. Three balls are drawn one after other replacing the ball
drawn each time along with two more balls of the same colour. If the third drawn ball is black, then
the first drawn is also black with probability
(A)

7
12

(B)

5
12

(C)

1
4

(D)

3
4

#1

8.

Three of six vertices of a regular hexagon are chosen at random. The probability that the triangle
with these vertices is an equilateral triangle is
(A)

3
5

(B)

1
10

(C)

3
10

(D)

1
2

Indicate the correct order sequence in respect of the following :

I.
If the probability that a computer will fail during the first hour of operation is 0.01,
then if we turn on
100 computers, exactly one will fail in the first hour of operation.
II.
A man has ten keys only one of which fits the lock. He tries them in a door one by
one discarding the
one he has tried. The probability that fifth key fits the lock is 1/10.
III.
Given the events A and B in a sample space. If P(A) = 1, then A and B are independent.
IV.
When a fair six sided die is tossed on a table top, the bottom face can not be seen.
The probability that
the product of the numbers on the five faces that can be seen is divisible by 6 is one.
(A) FTFT
(B) FTTT
(C) TFTF
(D) TFFF

10.*

A boy has a collection of blue and green marbles. The number of blue marbles belong to the sets
{2, 3, 4, ..... 13}. If two marbles are chosen simultaneously and at random from his collection,
then the probability that they have different colour is 1 2 . Possible number of blue marbles is :
(A) 2
(B) 3
(C) 6
(D) 10

9.

12.

PA

Paragraph - I
Let there be 10students in a class. The class teacher decides to take a test of n of these
students every Monday, giving a different test paper every week, such that any student may
appear for any number of tests but the same group of n students will not appear for more
than one tests. Also The teacher wants to take maximum possible tests this way keeping n
fixed.
11.
What is the probability that two particular students will write test on a randomly selected Monday
(A) 1/3
(B) 1/2
(C) 2/5
(D) 1/5
What is the probability that three particular students will not be writing test on a randomly selected
Monday
(A) 3/10
(B) 7/10
(C) 1/12
(D) 1/2

Paragraph -II
Let there be two mutually exclusive & exhaustive outcomes A & B of an experiment, such
that probability of occurrance of A in first trial & then A occurs in next trial also is p and
probability of occurrance of B in first trial & then B occurs in next trial also is q. Now
p 1 p
consider the matrix P
. The elements of above matrix represent, Ist Row
q
1 q
Ist Column P(AA),
Ist Row IInd Column P(AB), IInd Row Ist Column P(BA) & IInd Row IInd Column
P(BB)
Now if we consider 3rd trial, then probability of A given that Ist trial resulted in A will be
P(AAA) + P(ABA) i.e. p.p + (1 p).(1 q). Note that this will be Ist Row Ist Column
element in P2. Similarly other elements of P2 will be
#2

I Row I Column Element probability of B given that Ist trial resulted in A,

I Row II Column Element probability of B given that Ist trial resulted in A,
II Row I Column Element probability of A given that Ist trial resulted in B, &
II Row II Column Element probability of B given that Ist trial resulted in B. Similarly We
can conclude what probabilities elements of Pn will represent.
Now consider series of matches played between two teams. Probability that if a match is won by
team A, then the next match will also be won by team A is 0.6 and if a match is won by team B,
then the next match will also be won by team B is 0.8
If the first match is won by team A, then what is the probability that the fourth match will be won by
team B?
(A) 0.624
(B) 0.376
(C) 0.688
(D) none of these

14.

If the first match is won by team B, then what is the probability that the fourth match will be won by
team A?
(A) 0.438
(B) 0.376
(C) 0.312
(D) none of these

15.

If the first match is won by team B, then what is the probability that the fourth match will also be
won by team B?
(A) 0.438
(B) 0.688
(C) 0.312
(D) none of these

13.

Paragraph -III

17.

18.

Which one of the following events is most probable?

(A) A2
(B) A3
(C) A4

PA

16.

Two fair dice are rolled. Let Ai denote the event that the sum of the numbers on faces of dice is
divisible by i.

(D) A5

For which one of the following pairs (i, j), the events Ai, Aj are independent
(A) (3, 4)
(B) (4, 6)
(C) (2, 3)
(D) (4, 2)
Column I

Column II

(P) P A B C

(A) P A C P B C P A B C

(B) P A B | C P A B | C
(C)

1 P (A) P (B C) P A B C
1 P (B C)

(D) P A B P A B

(Q) P A C

(R) P A B C
(S)

(T) none of the above

19.

Two different numbers are taken from the set {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}. The probability that
their sum
and positive difference, are both multiple of 4, is x 55 then x equals?

#3

20.

In a knockout tournament 2n equally skilled players; S1, S2, ............. S

2n

are participating. In

each round
players are divided in pair at random and winner from each pair moves in the next round. If
S2 reaches the semifinal then the probability that S1 wins the tournament is
21.

22.

'n' equals?
Two freinds A & B are playing a game in which a coin is flipped. If it shows HEAD A gets a
point and if it shows TAIL B gets a point. The one who gets 20 points first wins 8 Silver coins.
At a point when A is leading B with 14 to 10 points, if the game is stopped, then the number of
coins should be given to B in a fair distribution is?
All the face cards from a pack of 52 playing cards are removed. From the remaining pack half of
the cards are
randomly removed without looking at them and then randomly drawn two cards
simultaneously from the

remaining. If the probability that, two cards drawn are both aces, is
value of p is?

p( 38C 20 )
40

C 20 20 C 2

, then the

There are 10 students in a class and probability that exactly out of 10 pass the
examination is directly proportional to 2 (0 10).

23.

1
. The value of
20

(i)
Find out the probability that a student selected at random was passed the
examination.

24.*

25.

26.

If a selected student has been found to pass the examination then find out the
probability that he is the only student to have passed the examination.
Ans. (i)
11/28
(ii)
1/3025
A bag initially contains one red & two blue balls . An experiment consisting of selecting a
ball at random, noting its colour & replacing it together with an additional ball of the same
colour. If three such trials are made, then :
(A*) probability that atleast one blue ball is drawn is 0.9
(B*) probability that exactly one blue ball is drawn is 0.2
(C*) probability that all the drawn balls are red given that all the drawn balls are of same
colour is 0.2
(D*) probability that atleast one red ball is drawn is 0.6 .

PA

(ii)

Let A, B and C be 3 arbitrary events defined on a sample space S and if P(A) + P(B) + P(C)
= p1, P(A B) + P(B C) + P(C A) = p2 and P(A B C) = p3, then the probability that
exactly one of the three events occurs is given by
(A) p1 p2 + p3
(B) p1 p2 + 2p3
(C) p1 2p2 + p3
(D*) p 1
2p2 + 3p2
An unbiased coin is tossed. If the result is a head, a pair of unbiased dice is rolled and
the number obtained by adding the numbers shown on them is noted. If the result is a
tail, a card from a well-shuffled pack of eleven cards numbered 2, 3, 4, ...., 12 is picked
and the number of the card is noted. What is the chance that the noted number is
either 7 or 8?
Ans.

193
792

#4

27.

A normal coin is tossed 4 times. If both Heads and Tails are present then the chance that the number
of heads appearing is greater than the number of tails, is equal to m/n where m and n are coprime
numbers, then find the value of (m + n).

28.

A fair coin is tossed repeatedly until two consectutive heads is obtained. The probability that two
consecutive heads occur on the seventh and eights flips is equal to
11
15
13
17
(B)
(C)
(D)
256
256
256
256
A biased coin with probability p(0 < p < 1) of falling tails is tossed until a tail appears for the first

(A)
29.

time. If the probability that tail comes in odd number of trials is

(A)

1
2

(B)

5 1
2

(C)

3
4

2
, then p equals
3

(D)

5 1
4

Nine tiles are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 respectively. Each of the three players A. B and
C randomly selects 3 tiles and they sum up those three values as marked on the tiles. The
m
probability that all three players obtain an odd sum is , where m and n are relatively prime
n
positive integers Compute the value of (n - 2m).

31.

An insurance company believes that people can be divided into two classes those who are accident prone and those who are not. Their statistics show that an accident prone person will not
have an accident in a yearly period with probability 0.4 whereas this probability is 0.2 for the
other kind. Given that 30% of people are accident prone. The probability that a new policyholder
will have an accident within a year of purchasing a policy is :

30.

(A) 0.74

(C) 0.34

(D) 0.66

In an experimental performance of a single throw of a pair of unbiased normal dice, three events
E1, E2 & E3 are defined as follows :

PA

32.*

(B) 0.28

E1 : getting a prime numbered face on each dice

E2 : getting the same number on each dice
E3 : getting a sum total of dots on two dice equal to 8. Then :
(A) The events E1, E2 & E3 are mutually exclusive
(B) The events E1, E2 & E3 are not pairwise mutually exclusive
(C) The events E1, E2 are independent

(D) P (E3|E1) = 2/9.

33.

Four people sit round a circular table, and each person will roll a normal six sided die once. The

34.

n2 1
probability that no two people sitting next to each other will roll the same number is
where
2n 2
n N . Find the value of n.
Let f(n) denotes the number of all non-negative integral solution of the equation a + b + c + d + e = n. If
11

the value of

r f (11 r ) p Cq

wher p > 10, q > 6 and p, q N, then find the value of

r 1

p - q.
#5

Let S denote the set of nine digit numbers whose digit are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 such that each of
these digit occurs exactly once. A nine digit number is chosen randomly. Match the probabilities
given in Column-II of the four events defined on set S as events E-1, E-2, E-3 and E-4 which are
described in Column-I.
Column-I

Column-II

(A)

E-1 : The number chosen is even

(P)

4
63

(B)

E-2 : The first, fifth and ninth digits of the chosen number will be odd

(Q)

7
9

(C)

E-3 : The number will be greater than 3 108

(R)

4
9

(D)

E-4 : The sum of digits used in the number on first two places

(S)

5
42

(T)

1
21

35.

from the left, equals the digit used in the last place.

If 7 couples play mixed doubles game at random, the probability that exactly 3 ladies do not play
as partners to their husbands is
(A) 1/6
(B) 1/144
(C) 1/72
(D) 1/46

37.

n biscuits of different shape and size are to be distributed to N beggars at random. The probability

36.

PA

that a particular beggar receives r r n biscuits is

n
n r
n
n
Cr n 1Cn r
Cr
Cr
Cr N 1
1

(A) n
(B)
(C)
(D)
n
n
Cn
N
Nn
N
A man alternately tosses a coin and throws a die beginning with coin. The probability that he gets
a head before he gets 5 or 6 on the die is
1
1
3
1
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
4
2
4
8

38.

39.

40.

5 persons a, b, c, d, e are contesting in an election. Three persons are to be selected. If one of

them 'd' has been selected uncontestedly, the probability that 'c' would be selected is
1
1
1
1
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
4
2
3
5
There are 10 stations between A and B. A train is to stop at three of these 10 stations. The
probability that no two of these stations are consecutive is
8

C3
(A) 10
C3
41.

C3
(B) 10
C3

C3
(C) 10
C3

10

(D)

12

C3
C3

A and B are two independent witness cases. The probability that A will speak truth is x and the
probability that B will speak the truth is y. A and B agree in a certain statement. The probability
that the statement is true is
xy
xy
2xy
xy
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
1 xy
1 x y 2 xy
x y
1 x y
#6

42.

If four dice are thrown together, then the probability that the sum of the numbers appearing on them is
13, is
5
11
35
11
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
216
216
324
432

43.

If n 7 , then probability that n C7 is a multiple of 7 is

1
1
(A) 0
(B)
(C)
7
49

(D)

1
343

44.

India plays two matches each with West Indies and Australia. In any match the probability to get
0,1 and 2 point by India are 0.45 , 0.05 and 0.50 respectively. If the results are independent, then
the probability that India gets at least 7 points is
(A)0.8750
(B)0.0875
(C)0.6250
(D)0.0250

45.

If X is a random variable with the following probability distribution

P X x :
(A) 65

33
16

(D)

65
4

P X xi :

2K 2

3K 2

5K 2

6 K 2 then the mean value

(B)

31
16

(C)

35
16

(D)

29
16

A letter is taken out at random from ASSISTANT and another is taken out from
STATISTICS. The probability that they are the same letter is
1
45

(A)

If P(A)

(a) 0
49.

65
3

(C)

X xi :

PA
(A)

48.

65
2

If a random variable X has the following probability distribution

of K is

47.

(B)

46.

3 6 9
1 1 1 then the variance of x, V(x) =
6 2 3

X x:

If P(A)

(a) 0,
3

(B)

13
90

(C)

19
90

(D)

5
90

3
2
1
A
A
, P(B) , P(A B) , then P P
4
3
12
B
B
(b)

1
3

(c)

1
2

(d)

3
4

1
1
, P(B) , then the range of P(A B) , is
3
2

(b) 0,
2

1 1

(c) ,
3 2

1 2

(d) ,
3 3

#7

 Write-up III (Questions 55 57)

A fair dice is rolled 11 times. Then
50.

The probability that 3 appears atleast 8 consecutive times given that 3 appears exactly 8 times is
(a)

4
165

(b)

6
165

(c)

7
165

(d)

9
165

51.

The probability that 3 appears atleast 9 consecutive times given that 3 appears atleast 8 consecutive
times is
(a) 8/45
(b) 16/45
(c) 8/63
(d) 16/63

52.

The probability of getting 8 consecutive 3s but not 9 consecutive 3s given that 3 appears atleast
9 times is
(a)

25
254

(b)

28
275

(c)

32
343

(d)

35
477

SECTION C

Writeup 1

53.

Probability that a defective ball is selected, is

(b)

1
5

(c)

3
10

(d)

1
2

If the selected ball is defective, then the probability that it came from urn i, (i = 1, 2,
5), is
(a)

55.

1
10

PA

(a)
54.

There are five urns numbered 1 to 5. Each urn contains 10 balls. The ith urn has i defective
balls and (10 i) nondefective balls, i = 1, 2, , 5. An urn is chosen at random and
then a ball is selected at random from the urn.

i
10

(b)

i
15

(c)

i
20

(d)

i
30

The probability that defective ball came from odd numbered urn is
(a) 1/225
(b) 3/5
(c) 8/15
(d) 1/2

#8