STA 32101: Probability F.

Chamera August 2023

1. In how many ways can the letters of the word SUCCESS be arranged so that
all Ss are together?

2. Using all the letters of the word GIFT how many distinct words can be formed?

3. A bag contains 5 red balls and 2 green balls. Two balls are drawn one after
the other. What is the probability that the second ball is red?

4. Find out how many distinct three-digit numbers can be formed using all the
digits of 1, 2, and 3.

5. In how many different ways can five friends sit for a photograph of five chairs
in a row?

6. In an experiment, a fair coin is tossed and a fair die is thrown. Write down
sample space for this experiment.

7. In how many different ways can the letters of the word MAGIC be arranged?

8. For the above word, find probability that the vowels are always together?

9. A bag contains 15 balls distinguishable only by their colours; 10 are blue and
5 are red. I reach into the bag with both hands and pull out two balls (one
with each hand) and record their colours. Determine the sample space.

10. There are six men and seven women in a ballroom dancing class. If four men
and four women are chosen and paired off, how many pairings are possible

11. In how many ways can the letters of the word BEAUTY be arranged?

12. For the above word, if the vowels are always together then how many types of
arrangement can be possible?

13. If repetition is not allowed then how many distinct three-digit numbers can be
formed using the digits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)?

14. Find out the distinct four-letter words that can be formed using the word
SINGAPORE.

15. Suppose you are taking a multiple choice test with c choices for each question.
In answering a question on this test, the probability that you know the answer
is p. If you don’t know the answer, you choose one at random. What is the
probability that you knew the answer to a question, given that you answered
it correctly?
STA 32101: Probability F. Chamera August 2023

16. Find out how many distinct three-digit numbers can be formed using the digits
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 such that the digits are in ascending order.

17. How many 3 digit numbers can be formed using the digits from 1 to 5 if the
digit 2 is never there in the number?

18. If repetition is not allowed then how many numbers between 2000 and 3000
can be formed using the digits from 0 to 7?

19. In how many ways can two letters be selected from the English alphabet if
repetition is allowed?

20. In a word jumble, there are 8 consonants and 5 vowels given. Find out in how
many ways can we form a 5-letter word having three consonants and 2 vowels?

21. How many distinct words can be formed using the word MINIMUM?

22. There are some red counters and some blue counters in a bag. The ratio of
red counters to blue counters is 4 : 1. Two counters are removed at random.
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The probability that both the counters taken are red is . How many blue
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counters are in the bag?

23. An urn contains 5 red balls and 2 green balls. A ball is drawn. If it’s green
a red ball is added to the urn and if it’s red a green ball is added to the urn.
(The original ball is not returned to the urn.) Then a second ball is drawn.
What is the probability the second ball is red?

24. A circular table has 6 chairs, out of this 6, five are identical. In how many
ways can the six people be arranged on these chairs?

25. In how many ways can the 4 couples sit around a circular table so that no two
men are sitting together?

26. 8 women and 6 men are standing in a line.

(a) How many arrangements are possible if any individual can stand in any
position?
(b) Find probability that all 6 men be standing next to one another.
(c) Find probability thatl no two men are standing next to one another .

27. In how many ways can 4 mathematics books, 3 physics books, 2 chemistry
books and 1 biology book be arranged on a shelf so that all books of the same
subjects are together?

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STA 32101: Probability F. Chamera August 2023

28. Each of the digits 1, 1, 2, 3, 3 and 4 is written on a separate card. The six
cards are then laid out in a row to form a 6-digit number.
(a) How many distinct 6-digit numbers are there?
(b) How many of these 6-digit numbers are even?
(c) How many of these 6-digit numbers are divisible by 4?

29. Three men have 4 coats, 5 waist coats and 6 caps. In how many ways can they
wear them?

30. Suppose 8 people enter an event in a swimming meet. In how many ways could
the gold, silver and bronze prizes be awarded?

31. What is the probability that the position in which the consonants appear
remain unchanged when the letters of the word “Math” are re-arranged?

32. Suppose the test for malaria is 99% accurate in both directions and 0.3% of
the patients have malaria. If someone tests positive, what is the probability
they actually have malaria?

33. Suppose 36% of families own a dog, 30% of families own a cat, and 22% of the
families that have a dog also have a cat. A family is chosen at random and
found to have a cat. What is the probability they also own a dog?

34. Suppose 30% of the women in a class received an A on the test and 25% of the
men received an A. The class is 60% women. Given that a person chosen at
random received an A, what is the probability that this person is a women?

35. A sample space contains 10 simple events: E1 , E2 , E3 , ..., E10 . If P (E1 ) =

3P (E2 ) = 0.45 and the remaining simple events are equiprobable, find the
probabilities of these remaining simple events.

36. Joseph wants to take either a Biology course or a Chemistry course. His
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adviser estimates that the probability of scoring an A in Biology is , while
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1
the probability of scoring an A in Chemistry is . If Joseph decides randomly,
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by a coin toss, which course to take, what is his probability of scoring an A in
Chemistry?

37. Three persons A, B and C have applied for a job in a private company. The
chance of their selections is in the ratio 1 : 2 : 4. The probabilities that A, B
and C can introduce changes to improve the profits of the company are 0.8, 0.5

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STA 32101: Probability F. Chamera August 2023

and 0.3, respectively. If the change does not take place, find the probability
that it is due to the appointment of C.

38. You have three groups of distinctly different items, four in the first group,
seven in the second, and three in the third. If you select one item from each
group, how many different triplets can you form?

39. Three balls are selected from a box containing 10 balls. The order of selection
is not important. How many simple events are in the sample space?

40. You own 4 pairs of jeans, 12 clean T-shirts, and 4 wearable pairs of sneakers.
How many outfits (jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers) can you create?

41. A study is to be conducted in a hospital to determine the attitudes of nurses

toward various administrative procedures. If a sample of 10 nurses is to be
selected from a total of 90, how many different samples can be selected?

42. Your family vacation involves a cross-country air flight, a rental car, and a
hotel stay in Boston. If you can choose from four major air carriers, five car
rental agencies, and three major hotel chains, how many options are available
for your vacation accommodations?

43. Suppose P (A) = 0.4 and P (A ∩ B) = 0.12.

(a) Find P (A|B). Are events A and B mutually exclusive?
(b) If P (B) = 0.3 are the events A and B independent?

44. Each of the 7 letters in the word DIVIDED is printed on a separate card. The
7 cards are shuffled and 2 cards are selected at random, without replacement.
Find probability that one of the cards has a D printed on it.

45. Suppose that P (A) = 0.4 and P (B) = 0.2. If events A and B are independent,
find P (A ∩ B) and P (A ∪ B).

46. Suppose that P (A) = 0.3 and P (B) = 0.22. If events A and B are mutually
exclusive, find P (A ∩ B) and P (A ∪ B).

47. If an experiment is conducted, one and only one of three mutually exclusive
events S1 , S2 , and S3 can occur, with these probabilities: P (S1 ) = 0.2, P (S2 ) =
0.5 and P (S3 ) = 0.3. The probabilities of a fourth event A occurring, given
that event S1 , S2 or S3 occurs are P (A|S1 ) = 0.2, P (A|S2 ) = 0.1 and P (A|S3 ) =
0.3. If event A is observed, find P (S1 |A), P (S2 |A) and P (S3 |A).

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STA 32101: Probability F. Chamera August 2023

48. Five hundred employees were selected from a city’s large private companies,
and they were asked whether or not they have retirement benefits. Based on
their answers the following table was prepared:

Benefits No Benefits
Male 225 75
Female 150 50

If one employee is selected at random from these 500 employees, find the
probability that this employee:
(a) Has retirement benefits given that the employee is a man
(b) Is a woman given that she does not have retirement benefits

49. The distribution of blood types varies among groups of people. Here is the
distribution of blood types for a randomly chosen person in Malawi.

Type O A B AB
Probability 0.45 0.40 ? 0.11

Maria has type B blood. She can safely receive blood transfusions from people
with blood types O and B. What is the probability that a randomly chosen
Malawian can donate blood to Maria?

50. A committee of 7 people is to be chosen at random from 18 volunteers. The 18

volunteers consist of 5 people from Dedza, 6 from Ntcheu and 7 from Dowa.
Find the probability that the committee will have
(a) 2 people from Ntcheu and 2 from Dowa.
(b) exactly 4 people from Dedza.
(c) include at least 2 people from each of the 3 districts.

51. Three companies A, B and C supply 25%, 35% and 40% of the notebooks to a
school. Past experience shows that 5%, 4% and 2% of the notebooks produced
by these companies are defective. If a notebook was found to be defective,
what is the probability that the notebook was supplied by A?

52. A insurance company has insured 4000 doctors, 8000 teachers and 12000 busi-
nessmen. The chances of a doctor, teacher and businessman dying before the
age of 58 is 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05, respectively. If one of the insured people dies
before 58, find the probability that he is a doctor.

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STA 32101: Probability F. Chamera August 2023

53. It is estimated that 50% of emails are spam emails. Some software has been
applied to filter these spam emails before they reach your inbox. A certain
brand of software claims that it can detect 99% of spam emails, and the prob-
ability for a false positive (a non-spam email detected as spam) is 5%. Now if
an email is detected as spam, then what is the probability that it is in fact a
non-spam email?

54. There are 4 red counters and x blue counters in a bag. 2 counters are removed
from the bag at random. The probability that both the counters taken are
1
blue is . Work out the value of x.
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55. The probabilities that A and B will tell the truth are 2/3 and 4/5 respec-
tively. What is the probability that they agree with each other? What is the
probability that they do not agree?

56. In a lot of 1200 golf balls, 40 have imperfect covers, 32 cannot bounce, and
12 have both defects. If a ball is selected at random from the lot, what is the
probability that the ball is defective?

57. If a permutation of the word WHITE is selected at random, find the probability
that the permutation
(a) begins with a consonant
(b) ends with a vowel
(c) has the consonants and vowels alternating.

58. One bag contains 4 white balls and 3 black balls, and a second bag contains 3
white balls and 5 black balls. One ball is drawn from the 1-st bag and is placed
unseen in the second bag. What is the probability that a ball now drawn from
the 2-nd bag is black?

59. A businessman has two secretaries. The probability that the one he hired most
recently will be absent on any given day is 0.08, the probability that the other
secretary will be absent on any given day is 0.07, and the probability that they
will both be absent on any given day is 0.02. What is the probability that:
(a) either or both secretaries will be absent on any given day?
(b) at least one secretary comes to work on any given day?
(c) only one secretary comes to work on any given day?

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