DANSOL HIGH SCHOOL

REVISION ON PROBABILITY

OBJECTIVES

1. The parents of 7 out of every 10 students in a class are farmers. If 12 students were
selected at random, find the probability that the parents of 8 of them will be farmers.
A. 0.0078
B. 0.0231
C. 0.0780
D. 0.2311

1 1
2. The probabilities that Atta and Tunde will hit a target in a shooting contest are and
6 9
respectively. Find the probability that only one of them will hit the target.

1
A.
54
41
B.
54
20
C.
27
13
D.
54
3. The table shows the distribution of the distance (in km) covered by 40 hunters while
hunting.

Distance(k
3 4 5 6 7 8
m)
2
Frequency 5 4 x 9 1
x
If a hunter is selected at random, find the probability that the hunter covered at least
6km.

3
A.
5

2
B.
5

C. 3838

D. 940

4. A fair die is tossed 60 times and the results are recorded in the table

Number of die 1 2 3 4 5 6

1 1 1 1
Frequency 28
5 0 4 1
 Find the probability of obtaining a prime number.

7
A.
30
1
B.
6
7
C.
15
8
D.
15
5. A bag contains 8 red, 4 blue and 2 green identical balls. Two balls are drawn randomly
from the bag without replacement. Find the probability that the balls drawn are red and
blue.
A. 12/91
B. 16/91
C. 30/91
D. 32/91
6. Calculate the probability that the product of two numbers selected at random with
replacement from the set {-5,-2,4, 8} is positive
A. 2/3
B. 1/2
C. 1/3
D. 1/6
7. A bag contains 5 red and 5 blue identical balls. Three balls are selected at random
without replacement. Determine the probability of selecting balls alternating in color.
A. 7/18
B. 5/18
C. 5/36
D. 1/36
8. The probabilities that John and Jane will pass an examination are 0.9 and 0.7
respectively. Find the probability that at least one of them will pass the examination.
A. 0.28
B. 0.67
C. 0.72
D. 0.97
9. Out of 70 schools, 42 of them can be attended by boys and 35 can be attended by girls.
If a pupil is selected at random from these schools, find the probability that he/ she is
from a mixed school.
A. 1/11
B. 1/10
 C. 1/6
D. 1/5
10.What is the probability of obtaining a head and a six when a fair coin and and a die are
tossed together?
A. 1/12
B. 1/3
C. 1/2
D. 2/3
11.A fair die is tossed twice. What is its smple size?
A. 6
B. 12
C. 36
D. 48

Face 1 2 3 4 5 6

Frequency 12 18 y 30 2y 45

12.Given the table above as the results of tossing a fair die 150 times. Find the probability
of obtaining a 5.
A. 1/10
B. 1/6
C. 1/5
D. 3/10
13.A box contains 14 white balls and 6 black balls. Find the probability of first drawing a
black ball and then a white ball without replacement.
A. 0.21
B. 0.22
C. 0.30
D. 0.70
14.Each of the 90 students in a class speak at least Igbo or Hausa. If 56 students speak
Igbo and 50 speak Hausa, find the probability that a student selected at random from
the class speaks Igbo only.
A. 28452845
B. 4949
C. 845845
D. 19
15.Four fair coins are tossed once. Calculate the probability of having equal heads and
tails.
A. 1/4
 B. 3/8
C. 1/2
D. 15/16
16.A box contains 5 red and k blue balls. A ball is selected at random from the box. If the
probability of selecting a blue ball is 2323, find the value of k.
A. 5
B. 6
C. 8
D. 10
17.If a fair coin is tossed four times, what is the probability of obtaining at least one head?
A. 1/2
B. 1/4
C. 13/16
D. 15/16
18.A fair die is tossed twice. Find the probability of obtaining a 3 and a 5.
A. 5/12
B. 2/3
C. 1/18
D. 1/36
19.A box contains 4 red and 3 blue identical balls. If two are picked at random, one after
the other without replacement, find the probability that one is red and the other is blue.
A. 4/7
B. 2/7
C. 1/7
D. 1/12
20.The probability that Kofi and Ama hit a target in a shooting competition
are 1/6 and 1/9 respectively. What is the probability that only one of them hit the
target?
A. 1/54
B. 13/54
C. 20/27
D. 41/54
21.A basket contains 3 red and 1 white identical balls. A ball is drawn from the basket at
random. Calculate the probability that it is either white or red.
A. 1313
B. 1212
C. 3434
 D. 1
22.The probabilities that a husband and wife will be alive in 15 years time are m and n
respectively. Find the probability that only one of them will be alive at that time.
A. mn
B. m + n
C. m + n - 2mn
D. 1 - mn
23.In a class of 50 pupils, 35 like Science and 30 like History. What is the probability of
selecting a pupil who likes both Science and History?
A. 0.10
B. 0.30
C. 0.60
D. 0.70
24.Yomi was asked to label four seats S, R, P, Q. What is the probability he labelled them in
alphabetical order?
A. 1/24
B. 1/6
C. 2/13
D. 14
25.Three men, P, Q and R aim at a target, the probabilities that P, Q and R hit the target
are 1/2, 1/3 and 3/4 respectively. Find the probability that exactly 2 of them hit the
target.
A. 1
B. 1/2
C. 5/12
D. 1/12
26.Two fair dices, each numbered 1, 2, ..., 6, are tossed together. Find the probability that
they both show even numbers.
A. 1/3
B. ¼
C. 1/6
D. 1/12
27.Two balls are drawn, from a bag containing 3 red, 4 white and 5 black identical balls.
Find the probability that they are all of the same colour.
A. 5/33
B. 13/66
C. 8/53
D. 19/66
28.Three defective bulbs got mixed up with seven good ones. If two bulbs are selected at
random, what is the probability that both are good?
A. 3/7
B. 21/50
C. 7/15
D. 49/100
29.The probability of Jide, Atu and Obu solving a given problem
are 1/12, 1/6 and 1/8 respectively. Calculate the probability that only one solves the
problem.
A. 1/576
B. 55/576
C. 77/576
D. 167/576

Marks 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

No of students 5 7 9 6 3 6 4

30.The table above shows the distribution of marks by some candidates in a test. If a
student is selected at random, what is the probability that she scored at least 6 marks?
A. 3/40
B. 1/4
C. 13/40
D. 27/40
31.A bag contains 2 red and 4 green sweets of the same size and shape. Two boys pick a
sweet each from the box, one after the other, without replacement. What is the
probability that at least a sweet with green wrapper is picked?
A. 1/5
B. 2/5
C. 8/15
D. 14/15

5- 8- 11 - 14 - 17 - 20 -
Marks
7 10 13 16 19 22

Frequenc
4 7 26 41 14 8
y

32.The table above shows the marks obtained by 100 pupils in a test. Find the probability
that a student picked at random scored at least 14 marks.
A. 0.22
B. 0.41
C. 0.49
D. 0.63
33.Three students are working independently on a Mathematics problem. Their respective
probabilities of solving the problem are 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8. What is the probability that at
least one of them solves the problem?
A. 0.024
B. 0.336
C. 0.664
D. 0.976
34.In a firing contest, the probabilities that Kojo and Kwame hit the target
are 2/5 and 1/3 respectively. What is the probability that none of them hit the target?
A. 1/5
B. 2/5
C. 3/5
D. 4/5
35.A and B are two independent events such that P(A)=2/5, P(A∩B) = 1/15. Find P(B).
A. 3/5
B. 1/3
C. 1/6
D. 2/15

THEORY
1. Two events M and N are such that P(M) = 1/2, P(N) = 9/20 and P(M ∩ N) = 11/50
(a) P(M ∩ N'): (b) P(M' ∩ N)
2. In an examination, 70% of the candidates passed. If 12 candidates are selected at
random, find the probability that:
(a) at least two of them failed;
(b) exactly half of them passed;
(c) not more than one - six of them failed.
3. There are 6 boys and 8 girls in a class. If five students are selected from the class, find
the probability that more girls than boys are selected.
4. (ai) A bag contains 16 identical balls of which 4 are green. A boy picks a ball at random
from the bag and replaces it. If this is repeated 5 times, what is the probability that he:
did not pick a green ball;
(aii) A bag contains 16 identical balls of which 4 are green. A boy picks a ball at random
from the bag and replaces it. If this is repeated 5 times, what is the probability that he:
picked a green ball at least three times?
5. The probability that Abiola will be late to the office on a given day is 2/5. In a given
working week of six days, find, correct to four significant figures, the probability that he
will:
(a) only be late for 3 days.
(b) not be late in the week:
(c) be late throughout the six days.
6. A basket contains 12 fruits: orange, apple and avocado pear, all of the same size. The
number of oranges, apples and avocado pear forms three consecutive integers.
Two fruits are drawn one after the other without replacement. Calculate the
probability that:
 i. the first is an orange and the second is an avocado pear.
ii.both are of same fruit;
iii. at least one is an apple
7. A bag contains 24 mangoes out of which six are bad. If 6 mangoes are selected
randomly from the bag with replacement, find the probability that not more than 3 are
bad.
8. A box contains 5 red, 7 blue and 4 green identical bulbs. Two bulbs are picked at
random from the box without replacement.
Calculate the probability of picking:
(a) same color of bulbs;
(b) different color of bulbs
(c) at least one red bulb.
9. (a) A bag contains 10 red and 8 green identical balls. Two balls are drawn at random
from the bag, one after the other, without replacement. Find the probability that one is
red and the other is green.
(b) There are 20% defective bulbs in a large box. If 12 bulbs are selected randomly
from the box, calculate the probability that between two and five are defective.
10.Three soldiers, X, Y and Z have probabilities 1/3,1/5 and 1/4 respectively of hitting a
target. If each of them fires once, find, correct to two decimal places, the probability
that only one of them hits the target
11.(a) In a bakery, 30% of loaves of bread produced are of bad quality. If twelve loaves are
selected at random from the bakery, calculate, correct to four decimal places. the
probabshty of getting
(i) exactly 6 bad ones:
(ii) at least 4 bad ones;
(ii) no bad one.
(b) A group consists of 8 boys and 5 girls. A committee of 7 members is chosen from
the group. Find the probability that the committee is made up of 4 boys and 3 girls.
12.(a) The probability that Kunle solves a particular question is 1/3 while that of Tayo
is 1/5. If both of them attempt the question, find the probability that only one of them
will solve the question.
13.The probabilities that Ali, Baba and Katty will gain admission to college are 2/3, 3/4
and 4/5 respectively. Find the probability that:
(a) only Katty and Baba will gain admission ;
(b) none of them will gain admission ;
(c) at most two of them will gain admission.
14.Bottles of the same sizes produced in a factory are packed in boxes. Each box contains
10 bottles. If 8% of the bottles are defective, find, correct to two decimal places, the
probability that box chosen at random contains at least 3 defective bottles.
15.(a) In a school, the ratio of those who passed to those who failed in a History test is 4 :
1. If 7 students are selected at random from the school, find, correct to two decimal
places, the probability that :
(i) at least 3 passed the test ;
(ii) between 3 and 6 students failed the test.
(b) A fair die is thrown five times; find the probability of obtaining a six three times.
16.The probabilities that Ago, Sulley and Musa will gain admission to a certain university
are 45,3445,34 and 2323 respectively. Find the probability that :
(a) none of them will gain admission ;
(b) only Ago and Sulley will gain admission.
17.In a certain community, 13 out of every 20 persons speak English. If 8 persons are
selected at random from the community, find, correct to three significant figures, the
probability that at least 3 of them speak English.
18.There are 8 boys and 6 girls in a class. If two students are selected at random from the
class, find the probability that they are of
 (a) the same sex ;

(b) different sex.

19. A bag contains 4 red and 5 black identical balls. If 5 balls are selected at random, one
after the other with replacement, find the probability that :
(i) a red ball was picked 3 times ; (ii) a black ball was picked at most 2 times.
20.A committee of 3 is formed from a panel of 5 men and 3 women. Find the :
(a) number of ways of forming the committee ;
(b) probability that at least one woman is on the committee.
21.The probabilities that Kofi, Kwasi and Ama will pass a certain examination are 9/10,
4/59 and x respectively. If the probability that only one of them will pass the
examination is 9/50, find the :
(a) value of x ;
(b) probability that at least one of them will pass the examination.
22.Three school prefects are to be chosen from four girls and five boys. What is the
probability that :
(a) only boys will be chosen ;
(b) more girls than boys will be chosen ?
23.(a) A bag contains 5 blue, 4 green and 3 yellow balls. All the balls are identical except
for colour. Three balls are drawn at random without replacement. Find the probability
that : (i) all three balls have the same colour ; (ii) two balls have the same colour.

24.(a) The probability that a man wins a race is 0.8. In four different races, what is the
probability that he wins : (i) all races ; (ii) no race ; (iii) at most 3 races ?
(b) A class consists of 5 girls and 10 boys. If a committee of 5 is chosen at random from
the class, find the probability that :
(i) 3 boys are selected ; (ii) at least one girl is selected.

25.(a) A fair die with six faces is thrown six times. Calculate, correct to three decimal
places, the probability of obtaining :
(i) exactly three sixes ; (ii) at most three sixes.
(b) Eight percent of screws produced by a machine are defective. From a random
sample of 10 screws produced by the machine, find the probability that :
(i) exactly two will be defective ; (ii) not more than two will be defective.

26.A survey conducted revealed that four out of every twenty taxi drivers do not have a
valid driving license. If 6 drivers are selected at random, calculate, correct to three
decimal places, the probability that
(a) exactly 2 ;
(b) more than 3 ;
(c) at least 5; have valid driving license.
27.Five students are to be selected from a large population. If 60% of them are boys and
the rest are girls, find the probability that :
(a) exactly 3 of them are boys;
(b) at least 3 of them are girls.
28.(a) Eight coins are tossed at once. Find, correct to three decimal places, the probability
of obtaining :
(a) exactly 8 heads ; (ii) at least 5 heads ; (iii) at most 1 head.
29.The probabilities of Rotey obtaining the highest mark in Mathematics, Physics and
Biology tests are 0.9, 0.75 and 0.8 respectively. Calculate the probability of getting the
highest marks in at least two of the subjects.
30.A student representative council consists of 8 girls and 6 boys. If an editorial board
consisting of 5 persons is to be formed, what is the probability that the board consists
of
(a) 3 girls and 2 boys ;
(b) either all girls or all boys.
31.Four boys participated in a competition in which their respective chances of winning
prizes are 1/5, 1/4, 1/3 and 1/2. What is the probability that at most two of them win
prizes?
32.The table below shows the distribution of ages of workers in a company.

17 - 22 - 27 - 32 - 37 - 42 - 47 - 52 -
Age/ yr
21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56
Worker
12 24 30 37 45 25 10 7
s
If a worker is selected at random from the company for an award, what is the
probability that he is at most 36 years old?
33.(a) Two pupils are chosen at random from a group of 4 boys and 5 girls. Find the
probability that the two pupils chosen would be boys.
(b) Twenty percent of the total production of transistors produced by a machine are
below standard. If a random sample of 6 transistors produced by the machine is taken,
what is the probability of getting (i) exactly 2 standard transistors (ii) exactly 1
standard transistor (iii) at least 2 standard transistors (iv) at most 2 standard
transistors?