ENGINEERING

PROBABILITY

Q1. Compute the mean,

median, mode and
sample standard
deviation of the
following set of
numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,
12.

Q2. Out of 40 students, 14

are taking English
composition and 29 are
taking Chemistry. (a) If 5
students are in both classes,
how many students are in
neither class? (b) How many
are in either class? (c) What
is the probability that a
randomly-chosen student
from this group is taking

Q3. A survey at a US
hospital showed the most
popular names for baby girls
are: Emily, Haley, Kayla and
Samantha. The most
popular middle names for
baby girls are Anne,
Elizabeth and Marie. How
many possible names can be
generated using the first

Q4. How many 3-digit

numbers may be formed
from the digits 0, 1, 2, 3,
4 & 5 if
(a)no digit may be
repeated in a given
number.
(b)How many of these
are odd?

Q5. There are 8 flags of

different colors. Any
arrangement of 5 of
them in a row constitute
a signal. (a) How many
signals can be made?
(b) If one of the flags is
red, how many signals
can be made if each

Q6. In how many ways

can the letters of the
word ABACUS be
rearranged such that
the vowels always
appear together?
Ans. 72

Q7. In how many ways

can 6 persons be seated
around a table with 6
chairs (a) if they can sit
anywhere? (b) if two
individuals wanted to
be seated side by side?
(c) if two individuals
must not sit next to

Q8. A bag contains 4 red balls

,
3 white balls and 9 blue balls.
Find: (a) the no. of ways of
drawing any 3 balls; (b) the
no. of ways of drawing 3 red
balls;
(c) the no. of ways of drawing
3 balls such that 2 are white
and one is blue.

Q9. In how many ways

can you invite one or
more of five friends to a
party?
A. 25 B. 15 C. 31 D. 62

Q10. Assuming equal

probabilities for boys
and girls, find the
probability in families
with 3 children that (a)
all are boys, (b) there
are two girls and one
boy.

Q11. A pair of dice is

tossed. Find the
probability that the sum
of the numbers coming
up is less than 11.

Q12. Each of the first 9 letters of

the alphabet and each of the
first 9 positive integers is
written on a separate slip of
paper. These slips, which are
identical, are placed in a box and
thoroughly mixed. What is the
probability, in a single draw, of
obtaining either a vowel or an
odd integer?

Q13. A card is drawn

from a deck of 52
cards. Find the
probability of
drawing a king or a
red card.

Q14. A pair of dice is

thrown. If it is
known that one die
shows a 4, what is
the probability that
the other die shows a
5?

Q15. A card is drawn from a

deck of 52 cards and then a
second card is drawn. Find the
probability that the first card is
a spade and the second a club if
(a) the first card is replaced
before the second card is drawn,
(b) if the first card is not
replaced.

Theorem

of Total Probability
(Rule of Elimination)
If the events constitute a
partition of the sample space such
that P( for , then for any event A
of S,
=

Q16. In a certain assembly plant,

three machines, B1, B2, and B3, make
30%, 45%, and 25%, respectively, of
the products. It is known from past
experience that 2%, 3%, and 2% of
the products made by each
machine, respectively, are
defective. Now, suppose that a
finished product is randomly
selected, what is the probability
that it is defective?
Ans. 0.0245

Bayes'

Rule:

Let B1, B2, ... , Bnbe a set of

mutually exclusive events that
together form the sample space
S. Let A be any event from the
same sample space, such that
P(A) > 0. Then,

Q17. During a board examination,

there were 350 examinees from
Luzon, 250 from the Visayas and 400
from Mindanao. The results of the
exam revealed that the flunkers
from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao
were 3%, 5% and 7% respectively. If
the name of a flunker is picked at
random, what is the probability that
he/she is from Mindanao?
A.0.330 C. 0.549
B.0.42 D. 0.375

Binomial

Probability
In a binomial experiment (also
called Bernoulli trial), there are
two mutually exclusive outcomes,
often referred to as success and
failure.
The probability of an event, p,
occurring exactly r times in n
trials is
where q the probability of failure
and is equal
to 1 p

Q18. At a certain intersection,

the light for eastbound traffic is
red for 15 seconds, yellow for 5
seconds, and green for 30
seconds. Find the probability
that out of the next eight
eastbound cars that arrive
randomly at the light,
exactlythree will be stopped by
a red light. Ans. 0.254

Q19. A coin is biased so that

a head is twice as likely to
occur as a tail. If it is thrown
three times, find the
probability of having at least
2 heads.
A. 2/3C. 20/27
B. 19/27 D. 7/9

Negative

Binomial Probability
A negative binomial experiment is
one in which the properties are
the same as those for a binomial
experiment except that the trials
will be repeated until a fixed
number of successes occur.
The probability that the rth
success occurs on the nth trial is

Q20. Find the probability

that a person tossing
three coins will get either
all heads or all tails for
the second time on the
fifth toss.
Ans. 27/256

Geometric
Probability

This is a special case of a negative binomial
experiment where r = 1.
The probability that the first success occurs
on the nth trial is
Q21. An oil company conducts a geological
study that indicates that an exploratory oil
well should have a 20% chance of striking
oil. What is the probability that the first
strike comes on the third well drilled?
A.0.128
C. 0.859
B. 0.792
D. 0.106

Probability
AHypergeometric

hypergeometric experiment is a statistical experiment that has

the ff. properties:

1). A sample of size n is randomly selected without replacement
from a population of N items.
2) In the population, k items can be classified as successes and
N k items as failures.
Suppose a population consists ofNitems,kof which are
successes. And a random sample drawn from that population
consists ofn items,rof which are successes. Then the
hypergeometric probability is:
P=
where N the number of items in the population
k the number of items in the population classified as
successes
n the number of items in the sample
r the number of items in the sample classified as
successes

Q22. If 7 cards are dealt

from an ordinary deck
of 52 playing cards,
what is the probability
that exactly 2 of them
will be face cards?
Ans. 0.3246

Multinomial
Probability:

A multinomial experiment is a statistical

experiment that consists of n repeated trials
where each trial can have two or more possible
outcomes.

Multinomial Probability Formula:

Suppose a multinomial experiment consists
of n trials, and each trial can result in any of k
possible outcomes: E1, E2, . . ., Ek. Suppose,
further, that each possible outcome can occur
with probabilities p1, p2, . . . ., pk. Then, the
probability P that E1 occurs n1 times, E2 occurs
n2 times, . . . . , and Ek occurs nk times is
=
where n = n1 + n2 + . . . + nk.

Q23. If a pair of dice are

tossed 6 times, what is
the probability of
obtaining a total of 7 or 11
twice, a matching pair
once, and any other
combination 3 times?
Ans. 0.1127

Poisson
Distribution:

Experiments yielding numerical values
of a random variable X, the number of
occurrences during a given time interval
or in a specified region, are often called
Poisson experiments.

Poisson Probability Formula:

P=
where the average number of
successes within
a given time or region
r the actual number of successes
that result from the experiment

Q24. On the average a

certain intersection results in
3 traffic accidents per month.
What is the probability that
in any given month exactly 5
accidents will occur at this
intersection?
Ans. 0.1008

Mathematical Expectation
This is what you would expect
the outcome of an experiment
to be on the average.
Q25. In making 100 draws from
an ordinary deck of cards
(replacing the card drawn
before making the next draw),
what is the expected no. of
times that a heart is drawn?

Q26. In a gambling game,

a man is paid $5 if he
gets all heads or all tails
when three coins are
tossed and he pays out
$3 if either one head or
two heads show. What is
his expected gain?

Q27. The number of adults living in

homes on a randomly selected city
block is described by the following
probability distribution:
No. of
adults,
X
Probabi
lity
P(X)

0.25

0.5

0.15

(a) What is the probability that 4 adults

reside at a randomly selected home?
(b) What is the mean (or expected
value) of the distribution?