1. A box holds 240 eggs. The probability that an egg is brown is 0.05.

(a) Find the expected number of brown eggs in the box.

(2)

(b) Find the probability that there are 15 brown eggs in the box.
(2)

(c) Find the probability that there are at least 10 brown eggs in the box.
(3)
(Total 7 marks)

2. The letters of the word PROBABILITY are written on 11 cards as shown below.

Two cards are drawn at random without replacement.

Let A be the event the first card drawn is the letter A.
Let B be the event the second card drawn is the letter B.

(a) Find P(A).

(1)

(b) Find P(B│A).

(2)

(c) Find P(A ∩ B).

(3)
(Total 6 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 1
3. Consider the events A and B, where P(A) = 0.5, P(B) = 0.7 and P(A ∩ B) = 0.3.

The Venn diagram below shows the events A and B, and the probabilities p, q and r.

(a) Write down the value of

(i) p;

(ii) q;

(iii) r.
(3)

(b) Find the value of P(A | B′).

(2)

(c) Hence, or otherwise, show that the events A and B are not independent.
(1)
(Total 6 marks)

4. In any given season, a soccer team plays 65 % of their games at home.

When the team plays at home, they win 83 % of their games.
When they play away from home, they win 26 % of their games.

The team plays one game.

(a) Find the probability that the team wins the game.
(4)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 2
 (b) If the team does not win the game, find the probability that the game was played at home.
(4)
(Total 8 marks)

1
5. José travels to school on a bus. On any day, the probability that José will miss the bus is .
3
7
If he misses his bus, the probability that he will be late for school is .
8
3
If he does not miss his bus, the probability that he will be late is .
8
Let E be the event “he misses his bus” and F the event “he is late for school”.
The information above is shown on the following tree diagram.

(a) Find

(i) P(E ∩ F);

(ii) P(F).
(4)

(b) Find the probability that

(i) José misses his bus and is not late for school;

(ii) José missed his bus, given that he is late for school.
(5)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 3
 The cost for each day that José catches the bus is 3 euros. José goes to school on Monday and
Tuesday.

(c) Copy and complete the probability distribution table.

X (cost in euros) 0 3 6
1
P (X)
9
(3)

(d) Find the expected cost for José for both days.
(2)
(Total 14 marks)

6. Two fair dice are thrown and the number showing on each is noted. The sum of these two
numbers is S. Find the probability that

(a) S is less than 8;

(2)

(b) at least one die shows a 3;

(2)

(c) at least one die shows a 3, given that S is less than 8.

(3)
(Total 7 marks)

7. In a class of 100 boys, 55 boys play football and 75 boys play rugby. Each boy must play at
least one sport from football and rugby.

(a) (i) Find the number of boys who play both sports.

(ii) Write down the number of boys who play only rugby.
(3)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 4
 (b) One boy is selected at random.

(i) Find the probability that he plays only one sport.

(ii) Given that the boy selected plays only one sport, find the probability that he plays
rugby.
(4)

Let A be the event that a boy plays football and B be the event that a boy plays rugby.

(c) Explain why A and B are not mutually exclusive.

(2)

(d) Show that A and B are not independent.

(3)
(Total 12 marks)

3 4
8. For events A and B, the probabilities are P (A) = , P (B) = .
11 11

Calculate the value of P (A  B) if

6
(a) P (A  B) = ;
11

(b) events A and B are independent.

Working:

Answers:

(a) ..................................................................
(b) ..................................................................

(Total 6 marks)

9. The mass of packets of a breakfast cereal is normally distributed with a mean of 750 g and
IB Questionbank Maths SL 5
 standard deviation of 25 g.

(a) Find the probability that a packet chosen at random has mass

(i) less than 740 g;

(ii) at least 780 g;

(iii) between 740 g and 780 g.

(5)

(b) Two packets are chosen at random. What is the probability that both packets have a mass
which is less than 740 g?
(2)

(c) The mass of 70% of the packets is more than x grams. Find the value of x.
(2)
(Total 9 marks)

10. A bag contains four apples (A) and six bananas (B). A fruit is taken from the bag and eaten.
Then a second fruit is taken and eaten.

(a) Complete the tree diagram below by writing probabilities in the spaces provided.

(3)

(b) Find the probability that one of each type of fruit was eaten.
(3)
(Total 6 marks)

11. A multiple choice test consists of ten questions. Each question has five answers.
Only one of the answers is correct. For each question, Jose randomly chooses one of the five

IB Questionbank Maths SL 6
 answers.

(a) Find the expected number of questions Jose answers correctly.

(1)

(b) Find the probability that Jose answers exactly three questions correctly.
(2)

(c) Find the probability that Jose answers more than three questions correctly.
(3)
(Total 6 marks)

12. A box contains 22 red apples and 3 green apples. Three apples are selected at random, one after
the other, without replacement.

(a) The first two apples are green. What is the probability that the third apple is red?

(b) What is the probability that exactly two of the three apples are red?

Working:

Answers:

(a) ..................................................................
(b) ..................................................................

(Total 6 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 7
13. Two boxes contain numbered cards as shown below.

Two cards are drawn at random, one from each box.

(a) Copy and complete the table below to show all nine equally likely outcomes.

3, 9
3, 10
3, 10
(2)

Let S be the sum of the numbers on the two cards.

(b) Write down all the possible values of S.

(2)

(c) Find the probability of each value of S.

(2)

(d) Find the expected value of S.

(3)

(e) Anna plays a game where she wins $50 if S is even and loses $30 if S is odd.
Anna plays the game 36 times. Find the amount she expects to have at the end of the 36
games.
(3)
(Total 12 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 8
14. The Venn diagram below shows information about 120 students in a school. Of these, 40 study
Chinese (C), 35 study Japanese (J), and 30 study Spanish (S).

A student is chosen at random from the group. Find the probability that the student

(a) studies exactly two of these languages;

(1)

(b) studies only Japanese;

(2)

(c) does not study any of these languages.

(3)
(Total 6 marks)

15. The diagram below shows the probabilities for events A and B, with P(A′) = p.

(a) Write down the value of p.

(1)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 9
 (b) Find P(B).
(3)

(c) Find P(A′ | B).

(3)
(Total 7 marks)

16. A packet of seeds contains 40% red seeds and 60% yellow seeds. The probability that a red seed
grows is 0.9, and that a yellow seed grows is 0.8. A seed is chosen at random from the packet.

(a) Complete the probability tree diagram below.

Grows
0.9

Red
0.4

Does not grow

Grows

Yellow

Does not grow

(3)

(b) (i) Calculate the probability that the chosen seed is red and grows.

(ii) Calculate the probability that the chosen seed grows.

(iii) Given that the seed grows, calculate the probability that it is red.
(7)
(Total 10 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 10
17. Evan likes to play two games of chance, A and B.

For game A, the probability that Evan wins is 0.9. He plays game A seven times.

(a) Find the probability that he wins exactly four games.

(2)

For game B, the probability that Evan wins is p. He plays game B seven times.

(b) Write down an expression, in terms of p, for the probability that he wins exactly four
games.
(2)

(c) Hence, find the values of p such that the probability that he wins exactly four games is
0.15.
(3)
(Total 7 marks)

A packet of seeds contains 40% red seeds and 60% yellow seeds. The probability that a red seed
grows is 0.9, and that a yellow seed grows is 0.8. A seed is chosen at random from the packet.

(a) Complete the probability tree diagram below.

IB Questionbank Maths SL 11
 Grows
0.9

Red
0.4

Does not grow

Grows

Yellow

Does not grow

IB Questionbank Maths SL 12
IB Questionbank Maths SL 13
IB Questionbank Maths SL 14
IB Questionbank Maths SL 15
IB Questionbank Maths SL 16
 Brown Blue Green
Male 21 16 9
Female 19 19 13

One student is selected at random.

(a) Write down the probability that the student is a male.

(b) Write down the probability that the student has green eyes, given that the student is a
female.

(c) Find the probability that the student has green eyes or is male.
(Total 6 marks)

(3)

(b) (i) Calculate the probability that the chosen seed is red and grows.

(ii) Calculate the probability that the chosen seed grows.

(iii) Given that the seed grows, calculate the probability that it is red.
(7)
(Total 10 marks)

2 1 7
19. Consider the events A and B, where P(A) = , P(B′) = and P(A  B) = .
5 4 8

(a) Write down P(B).

(b) Find P(A  B).

(c) Find P(A  B).

(Total 6 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 17
20. Two standard six-sided dice are tossed. A diagram representing the sample space is shown
below.

Score on second die

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 • • • • • •
2 • • • • • •
Score on first die 3 • • • • • •
4 • • • • • •
5 • • • • • •
6 • • • • • •

Let X be the sum of the scores on the two dice.

(a) Find

(i) P(X = 6);

(ii) P(X > 6);

(iii) P(X = 7 | X > 5).

(6)

(b) Elena plays a game where she tosses two dice.

If the sum is 6, she wins 3 points.

If the sum is greater than 6, she wins 1 point.
If the sum is less than 6, she loses k points.

Find the value of k for which Elena’s expected number of points is zero.
(7)
(Total 13 marks)

21. A company uses two machines, A and B, to make boxes. Machine A makes 60 % of the boxes.

80 % of the boxes made by machine A pass inspection.

90 % of the boxes made by machine B pass inspection.

A box is selected at random.

IB Questionbank Maths SL 18
 (a) Find the probability that it passes inspection.
(3)

(b) The company would like the probability that a box passes inspection to be 0.87.
Find the percentage of boxes that should be made by machine B to achieve this.
(4)
(Total 7 marks)

22. Consider the independent events A and B. Given that P(B) = 2P(A), and P(A  B) = 0.52,
find P(B).
(Total 7 marks)

23. Let A and B be independent events, where P(A) = 0.6 and P(B) = x.

(a) Write down an expression for P(A ∩ B).

(1)

(b) Given that P(A  B) = 0.8,

(i) find x;

(ii) find P(A ∩ B).

(4)

(c) Hence, explain why A and B are not mutually exclusive.

(1)
(Total 6 marks)

24. The probability of obtaining heads on a biased coin is 0.18. The coin is tossed seven times.

(a) Find the probability of obtaining exactly two heads.

(2)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 19
 (b) Find the probability of obtaining at least two heads.
(3)
(Total 5 marks)

25. Paula goes to work three days a week. On any day, the probability that she goes on a red bus is
1
.
4

(a) Write down the expected number of times that Paula goes to work on a red bus in one
week.
(2)

In one week, find the probability that she goes to work on a red bus

(b) on exactly two days;

(2)

(c) on at least one day.

(3)
(Total 7 marks)

26. Jan plays a game where she tosses two fair six-sided dice. She wins a prize if the sum of her
scores is 5.

(a) Jan tosses the two dice once. Find the probability that she wins a prize.
(3)

(b) Jan tosses the two dice 8 times. Find the probability that she wins 3 prizes.
(2)
(Total 5 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 20
27. A factory makes switches. The probability that a switch is defective is 0.04.
The factory tests a random sample of 100 switches.

(a) Find the mean number of defective switches in the sample.

(2)

(b) Find the probability that there are exactly six defective switches in the sample.
(2)

(c) Find the probability that there is at least one defective switch in the sample.
(3)
(Total 7 marks)

IB Questionbank Maths SL 21