The 3 Most Mesmerizing Ms - Mean, Median and Mode Performing above average on Arithmetic Mean

The most common of the tendency figures is the arithmetic mean, or simply the mean. The mean of a group of numbers is the same thing as their average. To find the mean of a set of numbers, add up the numbers and divide by the quantity of numbers in the group. The formula looks like this:

You can use given values in this formula to solve for the other values. For instance, if the GRE gave you the average and the sum of a group of numbers, you could figure out how many numbers were in the set by using the formula for arithmetic mean. Youll probably see a bunch of questions on the GRE that ask you to figure out the mean.

Mastering medians
Median is another tendency figure you may see tested on the GRE. The median is the middle value among a list of several values or numbers. To find out the median, put the values or numbers in order, usually from low to high, and choose the value that falls exactly in the middle of the other values. If you have an odd number of values, just select the middle value. If you have an even number of values, find the two middle values and average them. The outcome is the median.

Managing modes
You may also encounter mode on the GRE. The mode is the value that occurs most often in a set of values. Questions about mode may contain words like frequency or ask you how often a value occurs. For example, you may be asked what income occurs most frequently in a given population or sample. If more people in the population or sample have an income of $30,000 than any other income amount, the mode is $30,000.

Lets try some questions

Q1. The average height of three students is 68 inches. If two of the students have heights of 70 inches and 72 inches respectively, then what is the height of the third student? A) B) C) D) E) 60 62 64 65 66

Q2. 18 students attained an average score of 70 on a test and 12 students on the same test scored an average of 90. What is the average score for all 30 students on the test?

A) B) C) D) E)

78 80 82 85 Cannot be determined

Q3. Each employee of a certain company is in either Department X or Department Y, and there are more than twice as many employees in Department X as in Department Y. The average (arithmetic mean) salary is $25,000 for the employees in Department X and is $35,000 for the employees in Department Y. Which of the following amounts could be the average salary for all the employees in the company? Indicate all such amounts. A) $26,000 B) $28,000 C) $29,000 D) $30,000 E) $31,000 F) $32,000 G) $34,000 Q4. Frequency Distribution for List X Number 1 2 3 5 Frequency 10 20 18 12 Frequency Distribution for List Y Number 6 7 8 9 Frequency 24 17 10 9 List X and List Y each contain 60 numbers. Frequency distributions for each list are given above. The average (arithmetic mean) of the numbers in list X us 2.7 and the average of the numbers in list Y is 7.1. List Z contains 120 numbers: the 60 numbers in list X and the 60 numbers in list Y. Column A The average of the 120 numbers in list Z Column B The median of the 120 numbers in list Z

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q5. In a set of 24 positive integers, 12 of the integers are less than 50. The rest are greater than 50. Column A The median of the 24 integers Column B 50

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q6. For the first 3 hours of his trip, Justin drove at 50 miles per hour. Then, due to construction delays, he drove at only 40 miles per hour for the next 2 hours. What was his average speed, in miles per hour, for the entire trip?

A) 40 B) 43 C) 46 D) 48 E) 50

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. Benjamins average (arithmetic mean) on the six biology tests he took last semester was 89. On each of his first five tests, his grade was between 90 and 100, inclusive. Which of the following could have been his grade on his sixth test? Q2. Sandrines average (arithmetic mean) on 4 tests is 80. Which of the following cannot be the number of tests on which she earned exactly 80 points? A) 0 B) 1 C) 2 D) 3 E) 4 Q3. What is the average (arithmetic mean) of 210 and 220? A) 215 B) 25 + 210 C) 29 + 219 D) 229 E) 30 Q4. 10 students took a test and the average grade was 80. No one scored exactly 80. Column A Column B The number of grades over 80 5 A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined form the information given Q5. Column A The average (arithmetic mean) of the even numbers between 1 and 11 Column B The average (arithmetic mean) of the odd numbers between 2 and 12

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given

Q6. Camilles average on her 6 math tests this marking period is 75. Fortunately for Camille, her teacher drops each students lowest grade, and this raises her average to 85. What was her lowest grade? A) 20 B) 25

C) 30 D) 40 E) 50 Q7. Column A The average (arithmetic mean) of 100, 101 and 103. Column B The median of 100, 101 and 103.

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given

Keeping the Standards: STANDARD DEVIATION

Lets try some questions

Q1. A list of numbers has a mean of 8 and a standard deviation of 2.5. If x is a number in the list that is 2 standard deviations above the mean, what is the value of x? Q2. The test scores for a class have a normal distribution, a mean of 50, and a standard deviation of 4. Column A Percentage of scores at or above 58 Column B Percentage of scores at or below 42

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q3. In a normal distribution, 68% of the scores lie within one standard deviation of the mean. If the GRE scores of all the students at ABC School followed a normal distribution with a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100, and if 10,200 students scored between 400 and 500, approximately how many students scored above 600? A) 2,400 B) 4,800 C) 5,100 D) 7,200 E) 9,600

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. In both rural and urban areas of country G, the average annual number of holidays taken by citizens is 8, and the annual number of holidays follows a normal distribution. In rural areas, 2% of the citizens take more than 12 holidays per year. In urban areas, 2% of the citizens take more than 16 holidays per year. How much greater is the standard deviation of the annual number of holidays taken by urban citizens than that of rural citizens. Ans: 2 Q2. During a sales contest at a local electronics store, 65 employees sold a total of $91,000 worth of merchandise. If the standard deviation of sales among those employees was $130 and the sales were normally distributed, what percentage of employees sold $1270 or more worth of merchandise? A) 28% B) 50% C) 65% D) 84% E) 98%

Q3. Set A consists of all even integers between 2 and 100, inclusive. Set X is derived by reducing each term in set A by 50, set Y is derived by multiplying each term in set A by 1.5, and set Z is derived by dividing each term in set A by -4. Which of the

following represents the ranking of the three sets in descending order of standard deviation? A) X, Y, Z B) X, Z, Y C) Y, Z, X D) Y, X, Z E) Z, Y, X Q4. Column A Standard deviation of numbers between 1 and 21 Column B Standard deviation of numbers between 251 and 271

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q5. 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 105, 105, 130, 130, 130 The list shown consists of the times, in seconds, that it took each of 10 schoolchildren to run a distance of 400 meters. If the standard devastation of the 10 running times is 22.4 seconds, rounded to the nearest tenth of a second, how many of the 10 running times are more than 1 standard deviation below the mean of the 10 running times? A) One B) Two C) Three D) Four E) FIve

Comparing the comparable : RATIOS

Q1. The measures of the two acute angles in a right triangle are in the ratio of 5:13. What is the measure of the larger angle? A) 25 B) 45 C) 60 D) 65 E) 75 Q2. The food store at PVR cinemas sells popcorn in three sizes: small, medium and large. One day, the food store sold 240 bags of popcorn, and the ratio of small to medium to large was 8:17:15. How many medium bags of popcorn were sold that day? Q3. If 55 percent of the people who purchase a certain product are female, what is the ratio of the number of females who purchase the product to the number of males who purchase the product? A) 11 to 9 B) 10 to 9 C) 9 to 10 D) 9 to 11 E) 5 to 9 Q4. The total amount that Mary paid for a book was equal to the price of the book plus a sales tax that was 4 percent of the book. Mary paid for the book with a $10 bill and received the correct change, which was less than $3.00. Which of the following statements must be true? Indicate all such statements A) The price of the book was less than $9.50 B) The price of the book was greater than $6.90 C) The sales tax was less than $0.45 Q5. If a:b = 3:5 and a:c = 5:7, what is the value of b:c? A) 3:7 B) 21:35 C) 21:25 D) 25:21 E) 7:3 Q6. A club had 3 boys and 5 girls. During a membership drive the same number of boys and girls joined the club. How many members does the club have now if the ratio of boys to girls is 3:4? A) 12 B) 14 C) 16 D) 21 E) 28

Q7.

The ratio of number of boys to girls in the chess club Is 5:2. The ratio of the number of boys to girls in the glee club is 11:4.

Column A The number of boys in the chess club

Column B The number of boys in the glee club

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. Betty invited the same number of boys and girls to her party. Everyone who was invited came, but 5 additional boys showed up. This caused the ratio of girls to boys at the party to be 4:5 Column A Column B The number of people she invited 40 to her party A) Quantity is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q2. There are at least 200 apples in a grocery store. The ratio of the number of oranges to the number of apples is 9 to 10. How many oranges could there be in the store? Indicate all possible numbers. A) 171 B) 180 C) 216 D) 252 E) 315 F) 350 Q3. If the ratio of 2a to b is 8 times the ratio of b to a, then b/a could be which of the following? Indicate all possible choices. A) -2 B) -1/2 C) 1/4 D) 1/2 E) 2

Q4.

b is a multiple of positive integer a.

Column A The ratio of a to b A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given

Column B 1/2

Q5. By volume, cranberry juice makes up12.5% of Bees punch and 25% of Flos punch. If 3 liters of Bees punch are mixed with 6 liters of Flos punch, approximately what percent of the mixture, by volume, is cranberry juice? Indicate all such ratios. A) 6.25% B) 18.75% C) 20.83% D) 33.33% E) 50.00% Q6. At the beginning of the day, the ratio of cats to dogs at a boarding kennel was 10 to 11. Throughout the day, 4 dogs and 5 cats were admitted to the boarding kennel and no animals were released. Column A Column B The number of cats in the boarding The number of dogs in the boarding kennel at the end of the day kennel at the end of the day A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined form the information given

Out of 100 : Percentages

Q1. In 2009 the property tax on each home in Town X was p percent of the assessed value of the home, where p is a constant. The property tax in 2009 on a home in Town X that had an assessed value of $125,000 was $2,500. Column A The property tax in 2009 on a home in Town X that had an assessed value of $160,000 A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q2. By weight liquid A makes up 8 percent of solution R and 18 percent of solution S. If 3 grams of solution R are mixed with 7 grams of solution S, then liquid A accounts for what percent of the weight of the resulting solution? A) 10% B) 13% C) 15% D) 19% E) 26% Q3. In 1985 the populations of town A and town B were the same. From 1985 to 1995 the population of town A increased by 60% while the population of town B decreased by 60%. In 1995, the population of town B was what percent of the population of town A? A) 25% B) 36% C) 40% D) 60% E) 120% Q4. What is 10% of 20% of 30%? A) 0.006% B) 0.6% C) 6% D) 60% E) 6000% Column B $3,000

New Scores: Percent Change

Q1. Store B always sells CDs at 60% off the list price. Store A sells its CDs at 40% off the list price, but often runs a special sale during which it reduces its prices by 20% Column A Column B The price of a CD when it is The price of the same CD on sale at store A at store B A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q2. At Bernies Bargain Basement everything is sold for 20% less than the price marked. If Bernie buys radios for $80, what price should he mark them if he wants to make a 20% profit on his cost? A) $96 B) $100 C) $112 D) $120 E) $125 Q3. Sally and Heidi were both hired in January at the same salary. Sally got two 40% raises, one in July and another in November. Heidi got one 90% raise in October. Column A Column B Sallys salary at the end Heidis salary at the end of the year of the year A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q4. Mrs. Fisher usually deposits the same amount of money each month into a vacation fund. This year she decided not to make any contributions during November and December. To make the same annual contribution that she had originally planned, by what percent should she increase her monthly deposits from January through October? A) 16.6% B) 20% C) 25% D) 33.3% E) Cannot be determined from the information given

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. If x is a positive number, 500% of x is what percent of 500x? A) 0.01 B) 0.1 C) 1 D) 10 E) 100 Q2. On a test consisting of 80 questions, Eve answered 75% of the first 60 questions correctly. What percent of the other 20 questions does she need to answer correctly for her grade on the entire exam to be 80%? A) 85% B) 87.5% C) 90% D) 95% E) 100% Q3. The price of cellular phone 1 is 20% more than the price of cellular phone 2. Column A Column B The price of cellular phone 1 The price of cellular phone 2 when it is on sale at 20% off A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q4. Column A The change in price of a pair of shoes marked down by 50% Column B The change in price of a pair of boots marked down by 30%

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q5. Rohan began a savings account with a balance of $200. His current balance is $150. Column A Column B The percent decrease from Rohans The percent increase that would original balance to his current balance return Rohans current balance to his original balance. A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Going places by burning the Midnight Oil: RATES

Q1. Machine R, working alone at a constant rate, produces x units of a product in 30 minutes, and machine S, working alone at a constant rate, produces x units of the product in 48 minutes, where x is a positive integer. Column A Column B The number of units of the product that The number of units of product that machine R, working alone at its constant machine S, working alone at its constant rate, produces in 3 hours. produces in 4 hours. A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q2. If it takes three days for 10 workers to finish building one house, how many days will it take 15 workers to finish four houses? Q3. Tom, working alone, can paint a room in 6 hours. Peter and John, working independently, can paint the same room in 3 hours and 2 hours, respectively. Tom starts painting the room and works on his own for one hour. He is then joined by Peter and they work together for an hour. Finally, John joins them and the three of them work together to finish the room, each one working at his respective rate. What fraction of the whole job was done by Peter? A) 1/9 B) 1/6 C) 1/3 D) 7/18 E) 4/9 Q4. Lexy walks 5 miles from point A to point B in one hour, then bicycles back to point A along the same route at 15 miles per hour. Ben makes the same round trip, but does so at half of Lexys average speed. How many minutes does Ben spend on his round trip? A) 40 B) 80 C) 120 D) 160 E) 180 Q5. Working alone at its own constant rate, a machine seals k cartons in 8 hours, and working alone at its own constant rate, a second machine seals k cartons in 4 hours. If the two machines, each working at its own constant rate and for the same period of time, together sealed a certain number of cartons, what percent of the cartons were sealed by the machine working at the faster rate? Q6. Towns A and B are 400 miles apart. If a train leaves A in the direction of B at 50 miles per hour, how long will it take before that train meets another train, going from B to A, at a speed of 30 miles per hour? A) 4 hours B) 4.33 hours C) 5 hours D) 5.66 hours

E) 6.66 hours

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. If a man travels p hours at an average rate of q miles per hour, and then r hours at an average rate of s miles per hour, what is his overall average rate of speed? A) (pq + rs)/(p + r) B) (q + s)/2 C) (q + s)/(p + r) D) (p/q) + (r/s) E) (p/s) + (r/q) Q2. A broken clock is set correctly at 12:00 noon. However, it registers only 20 minutes for each hour. In how many hours will it again register the correct time? A) 12 B) 18 C) 24 D) 30 E) 36 Q3. Machine A and Machine B can produce 1 widget in 3 hours working together at their respective constant rates. If Machine As speed were doubled, the two machines could produce 1 widget in 2 hours working together at their respective rates. How many hours does it currently take Machine A to produce 1 widget on its own? A) 1/2 B) 2 C) 3 D) 5 E) 6 Q4. Tom, working alone, can paint a room in 6 hours. Peter and John, working independently, can paint the same room in 3 hours and 2 hours, respectively. Tom starts painting the room and works on his own for one hour. He is then joined by Peter and they work together for an hour. Finally, John joins them and the three of them work together to finish the room, each one working at his respective rate. What fraction of the whole job was done by Peter? A) 1/9 B) 1/6 C) 1/3 D) 7/18 E) 4/9 Q5. The moving walkway is a 300-foot long conveyor belt that moves continuously at 3 feet per second. When Bill steps on the walkway, a group of people that are also on the walkway stands 120 feet in front of him. He walks toward the group at a combined rate (including both walkway and foot speed) of 6 feet per second, reaches the group of people, and then remains stationary until the walkway ends. What is Bills average rate of movement for his trip along the moving walkway? A) 2 feet per second B) 2.5 feet per second C) 3 feet per second

D) 4 feet per second E) 5 feet per second

Maneuvering through the Cliques: Groups

Group problems regard populations of persons or objects and the way these populations are grouped together into categories. The questions generally ask you either to find the total of a series of groups or to determine how many people or objects make up one of the subgroups. You can find the answer to most group problems if you use your counting skills, but counting is time-consuming, and you want to work smarter, not harder, to solve these questions. Solving group problems comes down to applying simple arithmetic and nothing else. The formula for solving group problems is Group 1 + Group 2 Both Groups + Neither Group = Grand Total So if youre told that out of 110 students, 47 are enrolled in a cooking class, 56 take a welding course, and 33 take both cooking and welding, you can use the formula to find out how many students take neither cooking nor welding. Let Group 1 be the cooks and Group 2 the welders. The variable is the group that doesnt take either the cooking or welding class. Plug the known values into the formula and set up an equation to solve: Group 1 + Group 2 Both Groups + Neither Group = Grand Total 47 + 56 33 + Neither Group = 110 47 + 56 33 + x = 110 70 + x = 110 x = 40 Q1. Of the films Empty Set Studios released last year, 60% were comedies and the rest were horror films. 75% of the comedies were profitable, but 75% of the horror moves were unprofitable. If the studio made a total of 40 films, and broke even on none of them, how many of their films were profitable? A) 18 B) 19 C) 20 D) 21 E) 22 Q2. At a certain hospital, 75% of the interns receive fewer than 6 hours of sleep and report feeling tired during their shifts. At the same time, 70% of the interns who receive 6 or more hours of sleep report no feelings of tiredness. If 80% of the interns receive fewer than 6 hours of sleep, what percent of the interns report no feelings of tiredness during their shifts? A) 6 B) 14 C) 19 D) 20 E) 81 Q3. All of the students of Music High School are in the band, the orchestra, or both. 80 percent of the students are in only one group. There are 119 students in the band. If 50 percent of the students are in the band only, how many students are in the orchestra only? A) 30 B) 51 C) 60 D) 85 E) 119 Q4. Eighty percent of the lights at Hotel California are on at 8 p.m. a certain evening. However, forty percent of the lights that are supposed to be off are actually on and ten percent of the lights that are supposed to be on are actually off. What percent of the lights that are on are supposed to be off?

A) 22(2/9)% (B) 16(2/3)% (C) 11(1/9)% (D) 10%

(E) 5%

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. How many attendees are at a convention if 150 of the attendees are neither female nor students, one-sixth of the attendees are female students, two-thirds of the attendees are female, and one-third of the attendees are students? A) 300 B) 450 C) 600 D) 800 E) 900 Q2. 30% of major airline companies equip their planes with wireless internet access. 70% of major airlines offer passengers free on-board snacks. What is the greatest possible percentage of major airline companies that offer both wireless internet and free on-board snacks? A) 21% B) 30% C) 40% D) 50% E) 70% Q3. Seventy percent of the 800 students in School T are male. At least ten percent of the female students in School T participate in a sport. Fewer than thirty percent of the male students in School T do not participate in a sport. What is the maximum possible number of students in School T who do not participate in a sport? A) 216 B) 383 C) 384 D) 416 E) 417 Q4. 50% of the apartments in a certain building have windows and hardwood floors. 25% of the apartments without windows have hardwood floors. If 40% of the apartments do not have hardwood floors, what percent of the apartments with windows have hardwood floors? A) 10% B) 16.66% C) 40% D) 50% E) 83.33%

Something is cooking: Sequences and Patterns

The GRE likes to define its own sequences. You have to be careful reading the questions and then answering them accordingly. Example:- In a sequence, the first term is 1 and each term after the first is given by multiplying the previous term by 5. Which of the following gives the nth term of the sequence?

A) B) C) D) E)

n5 5n 5n-1 5n 5n+1

Solution:- Here the sequence is defined as: 1, 1*5, 1*5*5 and so on. The sequence becomes 1, 5, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56. Now the nth term can be written as 5n-1 where n is the number of the term that the question is asking for!! The answer is (C) Q1. The fraction 1/21 can be written as a repeating decimal: 0.476190476190... where the digits 476190 repeat. What is the 54th digit following the decimal point? A) 0 B) 4 C) 6 D) 7 E) 9 Q2. Except for the first two numbers, every number in the sequence -1, 3, 2, . is the sum of the two immediately preceding numbers. How many numbers of this sequence are even? A) None B) One C) Two D) Three E) More than three Q3. After the first term in a sequence of positive integers, the ratio of each term to the term immediately preceding it is 2 to 1. What is the ratio of the 8th term in this sequence to the 5th term? A) 6 to 1 B) 8 to 5 C) 8 to 1 D) 64 to 1 E) 256 to 1 k-1 Q4.S is the infinite sequence S1 =2, S2 =22, S3 = 222, Sk = Sk-1 + 2(10 ). If p is the sum of first 30 terms of S, what is the eleventh digit of p, counting right to left from the units digit? A) 1 B) 2 C) 4 D) 6 E) 9

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. After the first two terms in the sequence above, each subsequent term is the sum of the two immediately preceding numbers. For example, 21 = 13 + 8. How many of the first 60 terms of this sequence are odd? A) 20 B) 30 C) 33 D) 40 E) 44 Q2. Each term in a sequence of numbers, except for the first term, is 2 less than the

square root of the previous term. If the third term of this sequence is 1, what is the first term? A) 1 B) 9 C) 11 D) 121 E) 123 Q3. A farmer wants to build a fence that is 100 feet long using posts that are 10 feet apart. How many posts will the farmer need to complete the fence? A) 9 B) 10 C) 11 D) 12 E) 100 Q4. If the number of bacteria doubled every hour and if, at noon, there were 800 bacteria, how many bacteria were at 8 a.m that day? A) 25 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 E) 400 Q5. If each term in the sum a1 + a2 + .+an is either 7 or 77 and the sum is equal to 350, which of the following could equal to n? A) 38 B) 39 C) 40 D) 41 E) 42

Choosy about Arrangements: Permutation and Combination

Positioning with Permutations: It means arrangement of different items. If there are n things then each of the different arrangements that is possible taking some or all of n things is called a permutation. The order of the items is essential and it concerns selection as well as arrangement. For example if there are two objects A and B then the different arrangements are, AB and BA, thus there are two ways. If there are n objects then the different possible arrangements taking r of them is denoted as nPr. Coming together Combinations: It means selection of different items. If there are n things then each of the different selections that can be made taking some or all of n things is called a combination. The ordering of the items is immaterial and it concerns only selection. For example if there are two objects A and B, and one has to select both then selecting A first and then B or B first and then A doesn't make any difference in the number of reflections. Thus, there is only one way to select both A and B out of them. If there are n objects then the different possible selections which can be made taking r of them is denoted as nCr Lets Try Some Questions: Q1. At a dog show, there are 20 judges and 10 dogs in the final round. Column A Column B The number of distinct pairs of The number of possible rankings judges of dogs from first to third place. A) Quantity A Is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q2. A manager is forming a 6-person team to work on a certain project. From the 11 candidates available for the team, the manager has already chosen 3 to be on the team. In selecting the other 3 team members, how many different combinations of 3 of the remaining candidates does the manager have to choose from? A) 6 B) 24 C) 56 D) 120 E) 462 Q3. A reading list for a humanities course consists of 10 books, of which 4 are biographies and the rest are novels. Each student is required to read a selection of 4 books from the list, including 2 or more biographies How many selections of 4 books satisfy the requirements? A) 90 B) 115 C) 130 D) 144 E) 195

Q4. A palindrome is a number, such as 93539, that reads the same forward and backward. How many palindromes are there between 100 and 1,000? Q5. Column A The number of different ways a sum of 5 Column B The number of different ways to get a sum of 9 to get

A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given Q6. How many different 3-digit numbers can be formed, using the digits from 0 to 9 inclusive, if no digit is used more than once? A) 504 B) 648 C) 729 D) 900 E) 1000

Working towards Perfection: Practice Problems

Q1. Jane must select three different items for each dinner she will serve. The items are to be chosen from among five different vegetarian and four different meat selections. If at least one of the selections must be vegetarian, how many different dinners could Jane create? A) 30 B) 40 C) 60 D) 70 E) 80

Predicting the future: Probability

Probability is the measure of how likely it is that a particular event will occur. Its a bit more scientific than telling fortunes and reading tarot cards. You express probability as a percentage, fraction, or decimal. Youd say that the probability of an events occurring falls between 0 percent and 100 percent or between 0 and 1. If the probability of an events occurrence is 0, or 0 percent, its impossible for the event to occur. If the probability is 1, or 100 percent, the event is certain to occur. Few things in life are certain, other than death and taxes. For an event to be impossible is also rare. Therefore, the probability of the occurrence of an event usually falls somewhere between 0 and 1, or 0 and 100 percent.

Finding the probability of one event

Probability deals with outcomes and events. For situations where all possible outcomes are equally likely, the probability (P) that an event (E) occurs, represented by P (E), is defined as ( ) Because you express probability as a fraction, it can never be less than 0 or greater than 1. Getting both heads and tails with one flip of a coin is impossible, so the probability of that particular event occurring is 0. If you used a coin with heads on both sides, the probability of getting heads on one flip would be 1, because the number of possible outcomes is exactly the same as the number of outcomes that will occur.

Finding the probability of many events

You can find the probability of multiple events using several different formulas. In this section, we define the formulas first. Then we show you how to use them. Consider a case in which there are two possible outcomes of events, A or B. You can represent the probability of one of the events, A or B, occurring as this: P(A or B) You can state the probability that (A or B) will occur in two ways, depending on whether the two events are mutually exclusive or not. If the two events are mutually exclusive (which means they cant occur together, like rolling a 5 and 6 with one roll of one die), you use the special rule of addition: P (A or B) = P (A) + P (B) If the events arent mutually exclusive (which means they can occur together, like drawing a playing card that displays clubs and a queen), you use the general rule of addition: P (A or B) = P (A) + P (B) P (A and B) To find the probability of two events occurring together P (A and B), you use the rules of multiplication. If the two events are independent of one another, you apply the special rule of multiplication: P (A and B) = P (A) P (B ) If the outcome of the first event affects the outcome of the second event, you use the general rule of multiplication. P (A and B) = P (A) P (B|A)

Applying the special rule of addition

You would use the special rule of addition to figure out the probability of rolling a die and coming up with either a 1 or a 2. You cant get both on one roll, so the events are

mutually exclusive. Therefore, the probability of rolling a 1 or a 2 in one roll is P (A) + P (B). P(AorB)=16 + 16 P (A or B) = 26 P (A or B) = 13

Applying the general rule of addition

To understand when you use the general rule of addition, imagine that three types of sodas are in a cooler. Colas are numbered consecutively 1 through 5, orange sodas are numbered 1 through 7, and grape sodas are numbered 1 through 8. Let event A stand for when a cola is taken out of the cooler and event B represent when a can with a number 2 is taken out. You want to know the probability of picking out either a cola or a can with the number 2 on it but not specifically a cola with the number 2 on it. The probabilities would be these: P(A) = 520 (5 of the 20 cans are colas) P(B) = 320 (3 of the 20 cans are numbered 2) P(A and B) = 120 (only1of the 20 cans is a cola can numbered 2) P(A or B) = 520 + 320 120 = 720 You can express this probability as 0.35 or as 35 percent. In the soda scenario, P (A and B) represents the chances of both A and B occurring. The probability of both events happening is called joint probability.

Applying the special rule of multiplication

The probability of multiple events occurring together is the product of the probabilities of the events occurring individually. For instance, if youre rolling two dice at the same time, heres how youd find the probability of rolling a 1 and a 2: 16 P(A and B) = 1 P(A and B) = 136

Applying the general rule of multiplication

Suppose the outcome of the second situation depends on the outcome of the first event. You then invoke the general rule of multiplication. The term P(B|A) is a conditional probability, where the likelihood of the second event depends on the fact that A has already occurred. For example, to find the odds of drawing the ace of spades from a deck of 52 cards on one try and then drawing the king of spades on the second try with the ace out of the deck apply the formula like this: P(A and B) = P (A) P (B|A) { The line between the B and A stands for B given A; it doesnt mean divide!} 151 P(A and B) = 1 The probability of drawing the king of spades on the second draw is slightly better than the probability of drawing the ace on the first draw, because youve already removed one card from the deck on the first draw. Heres the answer: P (A and B) = 12,652 We wouldnt bet against the house on that one! Q1. Of the 700 member of a certain organization, 120 are lawyers. Two members of the organization will be selected at random. Which of the following is closest to the probability that neither of the members selected will be a lawyer?

A) 0.5 B) 0.6 C) 0.7 D) 0.8 E) 0.9 Q2. p is the probability that event E will occur, and s is the probability that event E will not occur. Column A Column B p+s ps A) Quantity A is greater B) Quantity B is greater C) The two quantities are equal D) The relationship cannot be determined by the information given Q3. What is the probability of rolling a total of 7 with a single roll of two fair six-sided dice, each with the distinct numbers 1 through 6 on each side? A) 1/12 B) 1/6 C) 2/7 D) 1/3 E) 1/2