Question Bank

Course Code: MAT3003

Course Title: Probability, Statistics & Reliability
Module-1: Probability Theory
1. Seventy percent of the employees of the XYZ corporation are college graduates. Of
these, ten percent are in sales. Of the employees who did not graduate from college,
eighty percent are in sales. What is the probability that:
o An employee selected at random is in sales?
o An employee selected at random is neither in sales nor a college graduate?
2. In an assembly-line operation, 1/3 of the items being produced are defective. If three
items are picked at random and tested, what is the probability that at least one of them
will be defective?
3. A problem in statistics is given to three students A, B, and C, whose chances of
solving it are 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4, respectively. What is the probability that the problem
is solved?
4. The odds against A solving a certain problem are 8 to 6, and the odds in favor of B
solving the same problem are 14 to 10. What is the probability that if both of them try,
the problem would be solved?
5. In a bolt factory, machines A, B, and C manufacture 25%, 35%, and 40% of the total
output, respectively. Out of their output, 5%, 4%, and 2% are defective bolts. A bolt is
drawn from the production and is found defective. What are the probabilities that it
was manufactured by A, B, and C?
6. From a city population, the probability of selecting:
(i) A male or a smoker is 7/10
(ii) A male smoker is 2/5
(iii) A male, if a smoker is already selected, is 2/3
Find the probability of selecting:
(a) A non-smoker
(b) A male
(c) A smoker, if a male is first selected
7. A and B toss a coin alternately on the understanding that the first to obtain heads wins
the toss. Show that their respective chances of winning are 2/3 and 1/3.
8. Two cards are drawn successively and without replacement from an ordinary deck of
playing cards. Compute the probability of drawing:
o Two hearts
 o A heart on the first draw and a club on the second draw
o A heart on the first draw and an ace on the second draw
9. Let A and B be independent events with P(A) = 1/4 and P(B) = 2/3. Compute:
(a) P(A ∩ B)
(b) P(A ∩ B′)
(c) P(A′ ∩ B′)
(d) P[(A ∪ B)′]
(e) P(A′ ∩ B)
10. The probability that a regularly scheduled flight departs on time is P(D) = 0.83; the
probability that it arrives on time is P(A) = 0.82; and the probability that it departs and
arrives on time is P(D ∩ A) = 0.78. Find the probability that a plane:
(a) Arrives on time given that it departed on time
(b) Departed on time given that it has arrived on time
11. Suppose that we have a fuse box containing 20 fuses, of which 5 are defective. If 2
fuses are selected at random and removed from the box in succession without
replacing the first, what is the probability that both fuses are defective?
12. A red die and a white die are rolled. Let event C = {5 on red die} and event D = {sum
of the dice is 11}. Of these 36 equally likely outcomes:
o 6 are favorable to C
o 2 are favorable to D
o 1 is favorable to C ∩ D
Hence, show that C and D are independent.
13. A class in advanced physics is comprised of 10 juniors, 30 seniors, and 10 graduate
students. The final grades show that 3 of the juniors, 10 of the seniors, and 5 of the
graduate students received an A for the course. If a student is chosen at random from
this class and is found to have earned an A, what is the probability that the student is:
o A junior
o A senior
o A graduate student
14. In a certain factory, machines I, II, and III produce springs of the same length. Their
respective defect rates are 2%, 1%, and 3%. The proportion of total production by
each machine is 35%, 25%, and 40%, respectively. If one spring is selected at
random, find the probability that it is defective.
15. At a hospital’s emergency room, patients are classified as:
o 20% critical (30% mortality rate)
 o 30% serious (10% mortality rate)
o 50% stable (1% mortality rate)
Given that a patient dies, what is the conditional probability that the patient
was classified as critical?
16. Two processes of a company produce rolls of materials:
o Process I: 3% defective, produces 60% of output
o Process II: 1% defective, produces 40% of output
Given that a roll is defective, what is the conditional probability that it is from
Process I?
17. A rare disease exists in which only 1 in 500 are affected. A test for the disease gives:
o 95% accuracy for a correct positive result
o 1% false positive rate
If a randomly selected individual tests positive, what is the probability that
they actually have the disease?
18. Tickets numbered 1 to 20 are mixed up, and then a ticket is drawn at random. What is
the probability that the ticket drawn has a number which is a multiple of 3 or 5?
19. A man and his wife appear for an interview for two vacancies in the same post. The
probability of the husband's selection is 1/7, and the probability of the wife's selection
is 1/5. What is the probability that only one of them is selected?
20. A professor is creating an exam with eleven questions from a test bank of 15
questions. In how many ways can he select and arrange the questions?
21. Let A and B be two events of a random experiment. The probability that at least one
of the two events occurs is 0.6. The probabilities of event A occurring and event B
occurring are 0.3 and 0.4, respectively. Find the probability that event A occurs given
that event B has occurred.
22. Students from three colleges X, Y, and Z have participated in a competition:
o 30% from college X, 20% from college Y, 50% from college Z
o 50% of X, 40% of Y, and 60% of Z participants are girls
If a girl is randomly selected, what is the probability that she is from college
X? (Answer correct to three decimal places.)