MATHEMATICS

Topics : PROBABILITY
ASSIGNMENT-1

IIT-ADVANCE -2013]

1 3 1 1
1. Four persons independently solve a certain problem correctly with probabilities , , , . Then the
2 4 4 8

probability that the problem is solved correctly by atleast one of them is

235 21 3 253
(A) (B) (C) (D)
256 256 256 256

2. Of the three independent events E1 , E 2 and E 3 ,the probability that only E1 occurs is  , only E 2 is  and

E 3 occurs is  . Let the probability  that none of events E1 , E 2 and E 3 occurs satisfy the equation

  2     and    3    2  . All the given probabilities are assumed to lie in the interval  0, 1 .

probability of occurrence of E1
Then =
probability of occurrence of E 3

PARAGRAPH
A box B1 contains 1 white ball, 3 red balls and 2 black balls. Another box B2 contains 2 white ball, 3 red balls
and 4 black balls. A third box B3 contains 3 white ball, 4 red balls and 5 black balls
3. If 1 ball is drawn from each of the boxes B1 , B2 and B3 , the probability that all 3 drawn balls are of the same
colour is
82 90 558 566
(A) (B) (C) (D)
648 648 648 648
4. If 2 balls are drawn ( without replacement) from a randomly selected box and one of the balls is white and the
other ball is red, the probability that these 2 balls are drawn from box B2 is
116 126 65 55
(A) (B) (C) (D)
181 181 181 181
[IIT-ADVANCE -2014]

PARAGRAPH

Box 1 contains three cards bearing numbers 1, 2, 3; Box 2 contains five cards bearing numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;

Box 3 contains seven cards bearing numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. A card is drawn from each of the boxes.

Let xi be the number on the card drawn from the i th box, i = 1, 2, 3

5. The probability that x1  x2  x3 is odd, is

29 53 57 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
105 105 105 2

6. The probability that x1 , x2 , x3 are in arithmatic progression, is

9 10 11 7
(A) (B) (C) (D)
105 105 105 105

[IIT-ADVANCE -2015]
7. The minimum number of times a fair coin needs to be tossed, so that the probability of getting atleast two heads
is atleast 0.96, is
PARAGRAPH
Let n1 and n2 be the number of red and black balls, respectively, in box I . Let n3 and n4 be the number of red
and black balls, respectively, in box II
8. One of the boxes, box I and box II, was selected at random and a ball was drawn randomly out of this box.
1
The ball was found to be red. If the probability that this red ball was drawn from box II is , then the correct
3
option(s) with the possible values of n1 , n2 , n3 and n4 is (are)
(A) n1  3, n2  3, n3  5, n4  15
(B) n1  3, n2  6, n3  10, n4  50
(C) n1  8, n2  6, n3  5, n4  20
(D) n1  6, n2  12, n3  5, n4  20
9. A ball is drawn at random from box I and transferred to box II. If the probability of drawing a red ball from
1
box I, after this transfer, is , then the correct option(s) with the possible values of n1 and n2 is (are)
3
(A) n1  4 and n2  6 (B) n1  2 and n2  3
(C) n1  10 and n2  20 (D) n1  3 and n2  6
[IIT-ADVANCE -2016]

10. A computer producing factory has only two plants T1 and T2 . Plants T1 produces 20% and plant T2 produces

80% of the total computers produced. 7% of computers produced in the factory turn to be defective. It is

known that P( computer turns out to be defective given that it is produced in plant T1 ) = 10 P ( computer turns out

to be defective given that it is produced in plant T2 ), where P(E) denotes the probability of an event E. A computer

produced in the factory is randomly selected and it does not turn out to be defective. Then the probability that it is

produced in plant T2 is

36 47 78 75
(A) (B) (C) (D)
73 79 93 83
PARAGRAPH FROM QUESTION No. 51 to 52

Football teams T1 and T2 have to play two games against each other. It is assumed that the outcomes of the

two games are independent. The probabilities of T1 winning, drawing and losing a game against T2 are

1 1 1
, and , respectively. Each team gets 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 point for a loss in a
2 6 3

game. Let X and Y denote the total points scored by teams T1 and T2 , respectively, after two games

11. P  X > Y  is

1 1 1 7
(A) (B) (C) (D)
4 3 2 12

12. P  X  Y  is

11 1 13 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
36 3 36 2
[IIT-ADVANCE -2017]
13. Three randomly chosen non-negative integers x, y and z are found to satisfy the equation x  y  z  10 . Then
the probability that z is even, is

36 6 1 5
(A) (B) (C) (D)
55 11 2 11

PARAGRAPH FROM QUESTION No. 53 to 54

There are five students S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 in a music class and for them there are five seats R1, R2, R3, R4
and R5 arranged in a row, where initially the seat Ri is allotted to the student Si, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But, on the
examination day, the five students are randomly alloted the five seats

14. The probability that, on the examination day, the student S1 gets the previously allotted seat R1, and NONE of
the remaining students gets the seat previously allotted to him/her is
3 1 7 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
40 8 40 5
15. For i = 1, 2, 3, 4, let Ti denote the event that the students S i and S i +1 do NOT sit adjacent to each other on
the day of the examination.Then, the probability of the event T1  T2  T3  T4 is
1 1 7 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
15 10 60 5

[IIT-ADVANCE -2018]

There are five students S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 in a music class and for them there are five seats R1, R2, R3, R4
and R5 arranged in a row, where initially the seat Ri is allotted to the student Si, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But, on the
examination day, the five students are randomly alloted the five seats

16. The probability that, on the examination day, the student S1 gets the previously allotted seat R1, and NONE of
the remaining students gets the seat previously allotted to him/her is
3 1 7 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
40 8 40 5
17. For i = 1, 2, 3, 4, let Ti denote the event that the students S i and S i +1 do NOT sit adjacent to each other on
the day of the examination.Then, the probability of the event T1  T2  T3  T4 is
1 1 7 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
15 10 60 5
[IIT-ADVANCE -2019]
18. There are three bags B1 , B2 and B3 . The bag B1 contains 5 red and 5 green balls, bag B2 contains 3 red and
3 3
5 green balls, and bag B3 contains 5 red and 5 green balls. Bags B1 , B2 and B3 have probabilities , and
10 10
4
respectively of being chosen. A bag is selected at random and a ball is chosen at random from the bag.Then
10
which of the following options is/are correct ?
3
(A) Probability that the chosen ball is green, given that the selected bag is B3 , equals
8
39
(B) Probability that the chosen ball is green equals
80
5
(C) Probability that the selected bag is B3 , given that the chosen ball is green, equals
13
3
(D) Probability that the selected bag is B3 and the chosen ball is green equals
10

19. Let S be the sample space of 3  3 matrices with entries from the set 0, 1 . Let the events E1 and E 2 be given
E1  A  S: det A = 0 and

E 2  A  S: sum of entries of A is 7

If a matrix is chosen at random from S , then the conditional probability P  E1 / E 2  equal to

[IIT-ADVANCE -2020]
20. The probability that a missile hits a target successfully is 0.75. In order to destroy the target completely, atleast
three successful hits are required. Then the minimum number of missiles that have to be fired so that the prob
ability of completely destroying the target is NOT less than 0.95, is

21. Two fair dice, each with faces numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, are rolled together and the sum of the numbers on
the faces is observed. This process is repeated till the sum is either a prime number or a perfect square. Sup
pose the sum turns out to be a perfect square before it turns out to be a prime number. If p is the probability that
this perfect square is an odd number, then the value of 14p is

[IIT-ADVANCE -2021]
Question Stem for Question Nos. 22 and 23

Three numbers are chosen at random, one after another with replacement, from the set S = {1, 2, 3, …,100}.
Let p1 be the probability that the maximum of chosen numbers is at least and p2 be the probability that the
minimum of chosen numbers is at most 40.
625
22. The value of p1 is ___ .
4
125
23. The value of p2 is ____ .
4
24. A number is chosen at random from the set {1, 2, 3, …, 2000}. Let p be the probability that the chosen
number is a multiple of 3 or a multiple of 7. Then the value of 500p is ___.

[IIT-ADVANCE -2022]
25. Two players, P1 and P2 , play a game against each other. In every round of the game, each
player rolls a fair die once, where the six faces of the die have six distinct numbers. Let x and y
denote the readings on the die rolled by P1 and P2 , respectively. If x  y , then P1 scores 5 points

and P2 scores 0 point. If x  y ,then each player scores 2 points. If x  y , then P1 scores 0 point and

P2 scores 5 points. Let X i and Yi be the total scores of P1 and P2 , respectively, after playing the

i th round.
Consider the following lists:
List-I List-II
3
(I) Probability of  X 2  Y2  is (P)
8
11
(II) Probability of  X 2  Y2  is (Q)
16
5
(III) Probability of  X 3  Y3  is (R)
16
355
(IV) Probability of  X 3  Y3  is (S)
864
77
(T)
432
The correct option is:
(A) (I)  (Q); (II)  (R); (III)  (T); (IV)  (S);
(B) (I)  (Q); (II)  (R); (III)  (T); (IV)  (T);
(C) (I)  (P); (II)  (R); (III)  (Q); (IV)  (S);
(D) (I)  (P); (II)  (R); (III)  (Q); (IV)  (T);
(C) (I)  (Q); (II)  (R); (III)  (P); (IV)  (R);
(D) (I)  (T); (II)  (S); (III)  (P); (IV)  (T); .
26. Suppose that
Box-I contains 8 red, 3 blue and 5 green balls,
Box-II contains 24 red, 9 blue and 15 green balls,
Box-III contains 1 blue, 12 green and 3 yellow balls,
Box-IV contains 10 green, 16 orange and 6 white balls.
A ball is chosen randomly from Box-I; call this ball b . If b is red then a ball is chosen randomly
from Box-II, if b is blue then a ball is chosen randomly from Box-III, and if b is green then a
ball is chosen randomly from Box-IV. The conditional probability of the event ‘one of the chosen balls
is white’ given that the event ‘at least one of the chosen balls is green’ has happened, is equal to
15 3
(A) (B)
256 16
5 1
(C) (D)
52 8

[IIT-ADVANCE -2023]

2 2
 
27. Let X   x, y      y : x  y  1 and y 2  5 x  Three distinct points P, Q and R are
 8 20 
randomly chosen from X . Then the probability that P, Q and R form a triangle whose area is a positive
integer, is
71 73 79 83
(A) (B) (C) (D)
220 220 220 220
28. Consider an experiment of tossing a coin repeatedly until the outcomes of two consecutive tosses
1
are same. If the probability of a random toss resulting in head is , then the probability that the
3
experiment stops with head is
1 5 4 2
(A) (B) (C) (D)
3 21 21 7
29. Let X be the set of all five digit numbers formed using 1,2,2,2,4,4,0. For example, 22240 is in X
while 02244 and 44422 are not in X . Suppose that each element of X has an equal chance of
being chosen. Let p be the conditional probability that an element chosen at random is a multiple
of 20 given that it is a multiple of 5. Then the value of 38p is equal to
 PARAGRAPH ‘II’

Consider the 6  6 square in the figure. Let A1 , A2 ,...., A49 be the points of intersections (dots in
the picture) in some order. We say that Ai and A j are friends if they are adjacent along a row or along
a column. Assume that each point Ai has an equal chance of being chosen.

30. Let pi be the probability that a randomly chosen point has i many friends, i  0,1, 2, 3, 4 . Let
X be a random variable such that for i  0,1, 2, 3, 4 , the probability P  X  i   pi . Then the

value of 7E  X  is

31. Two distinct points are chosen randomly out of the points A1 , A2 ,...., A49 . Let p be the
probability that they are friends. Then the value of 7 p is

[IIT-ADVANCE -2024]

ANSWER-

1. A 2. 6 3. A 4. D 5. B

6. C 7. 8 8. A,B 9. C,D 10. C

11. B , 12. C 13. B 14. A 15. C

16. A 17. C 18. A,B 19. 0.5 20. 6

21. 8 22. 76.25 23. 24.5 24. 214 25. A

26. C 27. B 28. B 29. 31 30. 24

31. 0.5