IE6200 Solutions: Homework #2 September 16, 2021

Name:

1. Find the number of outcomes in the sample space in each of the following cases.

(a) A drug for asthma is manufactured by 3 different companies in liquid, tablet and capsule form, all of
which come in regular or extra strength versions. How many different varieties of drug are available
for an asthma patient?
Solution: 3 × 3 × 2 = 18.
(b) In how many different ways can a 5 question multiple choice exam with 4 choices for each of the
questions be answered?
Solution: There are 5 objects with 4 choices each ⇒ 45 = 1024.
(c) 10 people have bought 10 seats in the same row for a concert. In how many ways can they be seated?
Solution: 10 P10 = 10! = 3, 628, 800.
(d) 5 couples have bought 10 seats in the same row for a concert. If each couple is to sit together, in how
many ways can they be seated?
Note: I recommend looking at textbook exercises 2.22, 2.30, 2.35 and 2.40 to get more practice with
this type of question. Don’t include answers to those in your solutions though.
Solution: there are 5 objects and 5 groups ⇒ 5!.
Each couple has 2 choices husband-wife or wife-husband ⇒ n1 = n2 = n3 = n4 = n5 = 2.
Total ways = 25 5 P5 = 10! = 3, 840..
2. Three friends Bryce, Chris and Kate each decide to go skiing on the same day without knowing the other
two are going as well. Bryce is going to decide between resorts A, B and P. Chris is going to decide between
resorts A, S or P. Kate is going to decide between resorts S or A. All possible outcomes are equally likely.

(a) Draw the tree diagram showing all possible outcomes for the day (the sample space).

(b) What is the probability that at least two of them decide to go the same resort?
Solution: From the tree, this event has the following outcomes

X = {AAS, AAA, ASS, ASA, APA, BAA, BSS ,PAA, PSS, PPS, PPA}
11
Since all outcomes are equally likely P (X) = 18 .
(c) What is the probability that all three friends end up going to three different resorts?
Now a fourth friend, Michael, decides to go skiing on the same day as well. He is going to decide
between resorts C, D, A or S.
Solution: Note that this is the complement of X, so
11 7
P (X 0 ) = 1 − P (X) = 1 − =
18 18
Answer the following based on the four friends going skiing.
(d) How many possible outcomes are there now? Answer without drawing a tree.
Solution: Using multiplication rule 3 × 3 × 2 × 4 = 72.
3. There is a deck of 25 cards numbered 1 through 25. You draw 5 cards without replacement (you don’t put
the cards you draw back in the deck), and lay them on the table from left to right in the order they are
drawn.

(a) How many possible outcomes are there?

Solution: 25 P5 = 25 × 24 × 23 × 22 × 21 = 6, 375, 600
(b) How many possible outcomes that the leftmost card will be 10 and the rightmost card will be number
17?
Solution: 1 × P × 1 = 1 × 23 × 22 × 21 × 1
23 3

(c) What is the probability that the cards 10 and 17 will be on the table?
Solution:
23 × 22 × 21 1
P = =
25 × 24 × 23 × 22 × 21 600
4. Six students (Dave, Michael, Ann, Joe, Jane, Bill) are attending a lecture in a classroom with 10 seats. The
seats are in a single row as follows

A B C D E F G H I J

All valid seating arrangements are equally likely. By valid seating arrangement we mean that all students
have to sit down in a seat and students can not share seats. Here is an example of a valid seating arrangement:
Dave - B, Michael - A, Ann - E, Joe - I, Jane - H, Bill - F

(a) How many seating arrangements are there? Note that who sits where matters.
Solution: Order matters, sampling without replacement

10 P6 = 151, 200.

(b) What is the probability of the seating arrangement

Dave - A, Michael - C, Ann - D, Joe - H, Jane - I, Bill - J?
1
Solution: One outcome in the event, so P = 151,200 .
(c) What is the probability that Dave sits in seat A?
Solution: Dave sits in seat A, 9 students 5 seats left, so

9 P5 1
P = = .
10 P6 10

(d) What is the probability that seats A, C, D, H, I and J are occupied?

Solution: Order does’t matter in this part
1 1
P = = .
C
10 6 210

(e) What is the probability that seat A is occupied?

Solution:
9 C5 6
P = = .
10 C6 10
(f) What is the probability that Dave sits in A and Michael sits in C or Dave sits in A and Bill sits in F ?
Solution:
Let X be the event Dave sits in A, Michael in C
Let Y be the event Dave sits in A, Bill in F

P (X ∪ Y ) = P (X) + P (Y ) − P (X ∩ Y )
P 1
P (X) = P = 8 4 =
10 P6 90
P 1
P (Y ) = P = 8 4 =
10 P6 90
P 1
P (X ∩ Y ) = P = 7 3 =
10 P6 720
1 1 1 15
P (X ∪ Y ) = + − =
90 90 720 720
5. User IDs on an old computer system consist of 4 letter sequences from the first 8 letters of the English
alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h. Note that the same letter can be used any number of times in the 4 letter
sequence. When a new user first registers, an ID is randomly generated (all outcomes equally likely) with
the only condition that it is different from the IDs of all previously registered users.

(a) How many different IDs are possible for the first registered user?
Solution: 84 = 4, 096.
(b) What is the probability that the ID for the first registered user will start with the letter c and end with
the letter g?
64 1
Solution:# in the event = 1 × 8 × 8 × 1× = 64 ⇒ P = 4096 = 64
(c) How many different IDs are possible for the second registered user?
Solution: 4096 − 1 = 4095.
(d) Jack, Kate and Sawyer are the only three users of this system. In how many different possible ways
can they be assigned IDs?
For instance, one possible way is: Jack’s ID = “chhe”, Kate,s ID = “defa”, Sawyer’s ID = “bgcg”.
Solution: 4096 P3 = 68, 669, 153, 280.