Name: Aldrin A.

Magallanes
Subject: Combinatorics
Time: 7:30-10:30

Fundamentals Rules of Counting and Probability

1. A bag contains 4 red balls, 3 green balls, and 5 blue balls. The probability of not getting a red
ball in the first draw.

Solution:
number of favorable ways
P=
total number of ways

There are 12 balls, 4 are red and 8 are not. The probability of not getting a red ball in
the first draw is,
P = 8 / 12 = 2 / 3

2. A customer can choose one monitor, one keyboard, one computer and one printer. The
diagram below shows each item with the number of choices the customer has. 

Using the counting principle, the number of all possible computer systems that can be bought
is given by 

N = 4 × 2 × 4 × 3 = 96

3. A bag contains 3 white and 5 black balls, if two balls are drawn in succession without
replacement, what is the probability that both balls are black?

Solution:
The probability that the first draw is black is:
P1 = 5/8

The probability that the second draw is black is:

P2 = 4 / 7

Then the probability that both are black is:

P = P1 x P2 = (5 / 8) (4 / 7) = 5 / 14

4. In a certain country telephone numbers have 9 digits. The first two digits are the area code
(03) and are the same within a given area. The last 7 digits are the local number and cannot
begin with 0. How many different telephone numbers are possible within a given area code in
this country?

Solution:

Using the counting principle, the total number of possible telephone numbers is given
by:

N = 1 × 1 × 9 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 = 9,000,000

5. A bag contains 3 white and 5 red balls. If two balls are drawn at random, find the probability
that both are white.

Solution:
First draw white: P1 = 3/8
 Second draw white: P2 = 2/7
The Probability that both are white is: 3/8 x 2/7 = 3/28

6. A student can select one of 6 different mathematics books, one of 3 different chemistry books
and one of 4 different science books. In how many different ways can a student select a book
of mathematics, a book of chemistry and a book of science?

Solution:
The total number N of different ways that the students can select his 3 books is given by 

N = 6 × 3 × 4 = 72

7. In problem 3, find the probability that one ball is white and the other is red.

Solution:
Case I: First draw white and second is red:
P1 = 3/8 x 5/7 = 15/56
Case II: First draw red and second draw is white:
P2 = 5/8 x 3/7 = 15/56
Thus, the probability is: 15/56 + 15/56 = 15/28

8. In problem 3, find the probability that all are of the same color.

Solution:
Case I: Both balls are white:
P1 = 3/8 x 2/7 = 3/28
Case II: Both balls are red:
P2 = 5/8 x 4/7 = 5/14
Thus the probability is: 3/28 + 5/14 = 13/28

9. Consider a set of numbers S={−4,−2,1,3,5,6,7,8,9,10}

Let the events E1, E2 and E3 be defined as:

E = choosing a negative or an odd number from S;

E1= choosing a negative number from S;

E2 = choosing an odd number from S.

Find n(E).

E1 and E2 are mutually exclusive events (i.e. no common outcomes).

n(E) = n(E1) + n(E2)
=2+5
=7

10. The probability that both stages of a two-stage rocket to function correctly is 0.92. The
reliability of the first stage is 0.97. What is the reliability of the second stage?

Solution:
Pt = P 1 x P 2
0.92 = 0.97 x p2
P2 = 0.948
11. Ricky and George each throw two dice. If Ricky gets a sum of 4, What is the probability that
George get less?

Solution:
Number of ways getting a sum of less than 4: (1,1), (2,1),(1,2) = 3 ways
P= 3/ 6(6) = 1/12

12. Two fair dice are thrown. What is the probability that the sum shown on the dice is divisible by
5?

Solution:
The sum that is divisible by 5 are: 5 and 10
Number of ways of getting a sum of five is:
(4,1),(1,4), (2,3),(3,2) = 4 ways
Number of ways of getting a sum of 10 is:
Number of ways of getting a sum of 5 or 10 is: 4 + 3 = 7
Since two dice will fall in (6)(6) = 36 ways, the probability is:
P = 7/(6)(6)= 7/36

13. An urn contains 4 black balls and 6 white balls. What is the probability of getting one black ball
and one white ball in two consecutive draws from the urn?

Solution:
Case I: First draw black and second draw is white
4 6 4
P1 = x =
10 9 15
Case II: First draw white and second draw black
4 6 4
P2 = x =
10 9 15
Then;
4 4 8
P = P1 + P2 = + =
15 15 15

14. If three balls are drawn in succession from 5 white and 6 black balls in a bag, find the
probability that all are of one color, if the first ball is replaced immediately while the second is
not replaced before the third draw.

Solution:
Case I: (All are white)
P1 = 5/11
P2 = 5/11
P3 = 4/10
PI = 5/11 x 5/11 x 4/10 = 10/121
Case II: (all are black)
P1 = 6/11
P2 = 6/11
P3 = 5/10
PII = 6/11 x 6/11 x 5/10 = 18/121

P = PI + PII = 10/121 + 18/121 = 28/121

15. A gift basket is made up from one CD, one book, one box of sweets, one packet of nuts and
one bottle of fruit juice. The person who makes up the gift basket can choose from five
different CDs, eight different books, three different boxes of sweets, four kinds of nuts and six
flavours of fruit juice. How many different gift baskets can be produced?

Solution:
 5×8×3×4×6=2 880 possible gift baskets

16. A first bag contains 5 white balls and 10 black balls and a second bag contains 20 white and
10 black balls. The experiment consists of selecting a bag and then drawing a ball from the
selected bag. Find the probability of drawing a white ball.

Solution:
Case I: (First bag is selected)
Probability of selecting the first bag, P1 = ½
Probability that a white ball is drawn P2 = 5/15= 1/3
Probability that a white ball is drawn from the first bag
PI = P1 x P2 = ½ x 1/3 = 1/6

Case II: (Second box is selected)

Probability of selecting the first bag, P1 = ½
Probability that a white ball is drawn P2 = 20/30 = 2/3
Probability that a white ball is drawn from the second bag,
PI = P1 x P2 = ½ x 2/3 = 1/3

Thus, the probability of drawing a white ball:

P = PI + PII = 1/6 + 1/3 = ½

17. A face of a coin is either head or tail. If three coins are tossed, what is the probability of getting
a three tails?

Solution:
P=½x½x½
P = 1/8

18. The face of a coin is either head or tail. If three coins are tossed, what is the probability of
getting three tails or three heads?

Solution:
Probability of getting three heads:
P1 = ½ x ½ x ½ = 1/8
Probability of getting three tails:
P2 = ½ x ½ x ½ = 1/8

Probability of getting three heads or three tails:

P = P1 + P2 = 1/8 + 1/8 = ¼

19. Five fair coins were tossed simultaneously. What is the probability of getting three heads and
two tails?

Solution:
Each coin has equal chances of falling upright (head) or up-side-down (tail) which is one
out (1/2). Then then the probability of getting three heads and two tails is:
P = (1/2)(1/2)(1/2) x (1/2)(1/2) = 1/32

20. A two-digit number is chosen randomly. What is the probability that it is divisible by 7?

Solution:
The following are the two-digit numbers that are divisible by 7:
14,21,28,35,42,49,56,63,70,77,84,91,98 = 13 nos.
Since there are 90 two-digit numbers (10-99), then the probability is:
P = 13/90
21. A restaurant offers four choices of starter, eight choices for the main meal and six choices for
dessert. A customer can choose to eat just one course, two different courses or all three
courses. Assuming that all courses are available, how many different meal options does the
restaurant offer?

Solution:
A person who eats only a starter has 4 choices
A person who eats only a main meal has 8 choices
A person who eats only a dessert has 6 choices
A person who eats a starter and a main course has 4×8=32 choices
A person who eats a starter and a dessert has 4×6=24 choices
A person who eats a main meal and a dessert has 8×6=48 choices
A person who eats all three courses has 4×8×6=192 choices.
Therefore, there are 4+8+6+32+24+48+192=314 different meal options.

22. What is the total number of possible outcomes when a pair of coins is tossed?

The events are described as:

Solution:

E1 = toss first coin (2 outcomes, so n(E1) = 2.)

E2 = toss second coin (2 outcomes, so n(E2) = 2.)

They are independent, since neither toss affects the outcome of the other toss.

So n(E) = n(E1) × n(E2) = 2 × 2 = 4

[We could list the outcomes: HH HT TH TT].

23. A simple survey consists of three multiple choice questions. The first question has 3 possible
answers, the second has 4 possible answers and the third has 3 possible answers. What is the
total number of different ways in which this survey could be completed?

Solution:

3 × 4 × 3 = 36 ways

24. A pair of dice is rolled once.  How many possible outcomes are there?   What is the probability
of rolling doubles?

Solution:

Use the fundamental counting principle to find the total outcomes:

 6 sides on die 1 • 6 sides on die 2 = total outcomes

 6 • 6 = 36
There are 36 total outcomes.
25. A circuit board contains 4 relays each of which can be set to any of three positions. What is the
total number of distinct configurations for the 4 relays? Each relay can be set in 3 ways and we
have 4 relays. So the total number of configurations is (3)(3)(3)(3) = 81.