N ATIONAL U NIVERSITY OF S INGAPORE

D EPARTMENT OF S TATISTICS AND DATA S CIENCE

ST2334 P ROBABILITY AND S TATISTICS
S EMESTER II, AY 2024/2025

Tutorial 01: Suggested Solutions

Please work on the questions before attending the tutorial.

Exam Format Questions

1. Multiple choice question: choose the unique correct answer.

Let A and B be two events of sample space S. Which of the following is INCORRECT:

(a) If A ∪ B = A, then we must have B ⊂ A.

(b) If A ∩ B = A, then we must have A ⊂ B.
(c) If A ∪ B ⊂ A, then we must have B ∪ A ⊂ B.
(d) All are correct.

S OLUTION
(c)
(a) is correct, because it is always true that for every sample point x in Event B, the sample point
x is in Event A or Event B, (i.e. A ∪ B). Since A ∪ B = A, therefore for every sample point x in
Event B, the sample point x is in Event A. Hence, B ⊂ A.
(b) is correct, because it is always true that for every sample point x in Event A and Event B (i.e.
A ∩ B), the sample point x is in Event B. Since A ∩ B = A, therefore for every sample point x in
Event A, x is in Event B, Hence, A ⊂ B.
(c) is incorrect, because A ∪ B ⊂ A implies A ∪ B = A, which together with (a) implies B ⊂ A,
which could be proper or improper. If it is the former, B is a proper subset of B ∪ A.

2. Multiple choice question: choose the unique correct answer.

((A ∪ B) ∩C)′ =?

(a) (A′ ∩C′ ) ∩ (B′ ∩C′ )

(b) (A′ ∩C′ ) ∪ (B′ ∩C′ )
(c) (A′ ∪C′ ) ∩ (B′ ∪C′ )
(d) (A′ ∪C′ ) ∪ (B′ ∪C′ )

S OLUTION
(c)

3. Fill in the blank.

There are 5 vowels and 21 consonants among 26 alphabets. If a sample of 3 alphabets are selected
without replacement, how many samples have at least 1 vowels?
Answer:
S OLUTION

1
  
26
• The total number of samples: = 2600.
3
 
21
• Without vowel: = 1330.
3

The number of samples with at least 1 vowel: 2600 − 1330 = 1270.

4. Fill in the blank.

How many ways can 4 men and 3 women sit in a row if no two women are allowed to sit together?
Answer:
S OLUTION
We seat the men first: 4! ways

∧ M1 ∧ M2 ∧ M3 ∧ M4 ∧
 
5
The women can choose 3 out of 5 spaces between the men: ways.
3
Finally, there are 3! ways to arrange the women in those 3 chosen spaces.

So the number of ways required is

 
5
× 4! × 3! = 1440.
3

5. Fill in the blank.

A contractor wishes to build 9 houses, each of different in design in 9 plots of land. In how many
ways can be placed these houses on a street if 6 lots are on South side of the street and 3 lots are
on the North side? (Note: The 9 lots are fixed.)
Answer:
S OLUTION
362880
This is equivalent to line up 9 house, because as this is down, we can imagine that the first 6 would
be automatically put on the South side, the rest 3 will be put on the North side. On the other hand,
the totally number of ways to permute 9 houses is given by

P99 = 9! = 362880.

Analytical Questions

1. The NUS library has five copies of a certain text on reserve. Two copies (1 and 2) are first editions,
and the other three (3, 4 and 5) are second editions. A student examines these books in random
order, stopping only when a second edition has been selected. One possible outcome is 5, and
another is 213.

(i) List the outcomes in the sample space S.

(ii) Let A denote the event that exactly one book must be examined. List the outcomes in A.
(iii) Let B be the event that book 5 is the one selected. List the outcomes in B.
(iv) Let C be the event that book 1 is not examined. List the outcomes in C.

2
 (v) List the outcomes in A∩B, A∪B, and A∩B∩C respectively. Are A and B mutually exclusive?

S OLUTION

(i) S = {123, 124, 125, 13, 14, 15, 213, 214, 215, 23, 24, 25, 3, 4, 5};
(ii) A = {3, 4, 5};
(iii) B = {5, 15, 25, 125, 215};
(iv) C = {23, 24, 25, 3, 4, 5};
(v) A ∩ B = {5}, A ∪ B = {3, 4, 5, 15, 25, 125, 215}, A ∩ B ∩ C = {5}; A and B are not mutually
exclusive.

2. Consider the digits 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9. If each digit can be used only once,

(i) how many three-digit numbers can be formed?

(ii) how many of these numbers in (i) are odd numbers?
(iii) how many of these odd numbers in (ii) are greater than or equal to 620?

S OLUTION

(i) Number of choices for the hundreds, tens and ones positions are 5, 5 and 4 respectively.
Hence the number of 3-digit numbers formed = 5 × 5 × 4 = 100.
(ii) To ensure it is odd, we place 9 in the ones position. It follows that the number of choices for
the ones, hundreds and tens positions are 1, 4 and 4 respectively. Hence, the number of odd
3-digit numbers formed = 4 × 4 × 1 = 16.
(iii) Similarly, number of odd 3-digit numbers greater than 620 with hundreds position greater
than 6 = 1 × 4 × 1 = 4; and number of odd 3-digit numbers greter than 620 with hundreds
position being 6= 1 × 3 × 1 = 3. Hence the number of 3-digit numbers greater than 620
= 4 + 3 = 7.

3. An exam paper consists of seven questions. Candidates are asked to answer five questions. Find
the number of ways to select five questions (in each of the following cases) if

(i) there are no restrictions;

(ii) the first two questions must be answered;
(iii) at least one of the first two questions must be answered; and
(iv) exactly two from the first three questions must be answered.

S OLUTION

 
7
(i) We choose 5 out of 7. Hence, n = 7 and r = 5. Number of choices is given by =
5
7!/(5!2!) = 21.
 
2
(ii) Number of ways to choose 2 questions from the first 2 questions = 1. Number of ways
  2
5
to choose three questions from the remaining 5 questions is = 5!/(3!2!) = 10. Hence,
3
based on multiplication principle, the number of ways to get the 5 questions for which 2
from the first 2 questions and 3 from the remaining 5 questions is 1 × 10 = 10.

3
 (iii) Similarly, number of choices for selecting
  exactly
 1 question from the first 2 questions and
2 5
4 from the remaining 5 questions is · = 2 × 5 = 10.
1 4
Based on Part (b), the number of choices for selecting 2 questions from the first 2 questions
and 3 from the remaining 5 questions is 10.
Based on additional principle, the number of choices if at least one of the first two questions
must be answered is 10 + 10 = 20.
(iv) The number of choices for selecting
  exactly
 2 questions from the first 3 questions and 3 from
3 4
the remaining 4 questions is · = 12.
2 3

4. Little Red Riding Hood lives at point A : (0, 0), and wants to visit her grandmother at point B :
(13, 8). At each step, she can only go East (Right) or North (Up) along the grid as shown below.
The Big Bad Wolf lives at Y : (10, 6).

Y (10, 6)
B(13, 8)

North

East

X(2, 2) A(0, 0)

(i) How many ways can Little Red Riding Hood go to visit her grandmother regardless of
whether she will pass by the Big Bad Wolf?
(ii) How many ways can she go to visit her grandmother avoiding the Big Bad Wolf?
(iii) Little Red Riding Hood wants to buy a gift for her grandmother at X : (2, 2). How many
ways can she go to visit her grandmother stopping by X but avoiding Y ?

S OLUTION

(i) Each path from A to B is composed of 21 steps, with 8 steps to the north (N) and 13 steps to
the east (E). For example: “ENENNNEENEEENEEEENNEE” is one such a path.
Therefore, “the number of ways from A to B” is equivalent to “the number of ways we can
choose 8 north moving steps out of 21 steps”. That is
 
21 21!
= = 203490.
8 13!8!

(ii) Similar to the strategy in (i),

 
16
• The number of ways from A to Y is = 16!/(6!10!) = 8008; and
6
 
5
• the number of ways from Y to B is = 5!/(2!3!) = 10;
2

4
 • So the number of ways from A to B by stopping by Y is 8008(10) = 80080.
• Consequently, the number of ways from A to B without stopping by Y is 203490 −
80080 = 123410.
(iii) The number of ways from A to B stopping by X but not Y is
         
4 17 12 5 4! 17 12! 5!
× − × = × − · = 44556.
2 6 4 2 2!2! 6!11! 4!8! 2!3!