Problems on Probability with solutions:

Example 1: A coin is thrown 3 times .what is the probability that atleast one head is obtained?
Sol: Sample space = [HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, TTH, THT, HTT, TTT]
Total number of ways = 2 × 2 × 2 = 8. Fav. Cases = 7
P (A) = 7/8
OR
P (of getting at least one head) = 1 – P (no head)⇒ 1 – (1/8) = 7/8

Example 2: Find the probability of getting a numbered card when a card is drawn from the pack of 52
cards.
Sol: Total Cards = 52. Numbered Cards = (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) 9 from each suit 4 × 9 = 36
P (E) = 36/52 = 9/13

Example 3: There are 5 green 7 red balls. Two balls are selected one by one without replacement. Find
the probability that first is green and second is red.
Sol: P (G) × P (R) = (5/12) x (7/11) = 35/132

Example 4: What is the probability of getting a sum of 7 when two dice are thrown?
Sol: Probability math - Total number of ways = 6 × 6 = 36 ways. Favorable cases = (1, 6) (6, 1) (2, 5) (5, 2)
(3, 4) (4, 3) --- 6 ways. P (A) = 6/36 = 1/6

Example 5: 1 card is drawn at random from the pack of 52 cards.

(i) Find the Probability that it is an honor card.
(ii) It is a face card.
Sol: (i) honor cards = (A, J, Q, K) 4 cards from each suits = 4 × 4 = 16
P (honor card) = 16/52 = 4/13
(ii) face cards = (J,Q,K) 3 cards from each suit = 3 × 4 = 12 Cards.
P (face Card) = 12/52 = 3/13

Example 6: Two cards are drawn from the pack of 52 cards. Find the probability that both are diamonds
or both are kings.
Sol: Total no. of ways = 52C2
Case I: Both are diamonds = 13C2
Case II: Both are kings = 4C2
P (both are diamonds or both are kings) = (13C2 + 4C2 ) / 52C2

Example 7: Three dice are rolled together. What is the probability as getting at least one '4'?
Sol: Total number of ways = 6 × 6 × 6 = 216. Probability of getting number ‘4’ at least one time
= 1 – (Probability of getting no number 4) = 1 – (5/6) x (5/6) x (5/6) = 91/216

Example 8: A problem is given to three persons P, Q, R whose respective chances of solving it are 2/7,
4/7, 4/9 respectively. What is the probability that the problem is solved?
Sol: Probability of the problem getting solved = 1 – (Probability of none of them solving the problem)

Probability of problem getting solved = 1 – (5/7) x (3/7) x (5/9) = (122/147)

Example 9: Find the probability of getting two heads when five coins are tossed.
Sol: Number of ways of getting two heads = 5C2 = 10. Total Number of ways = 25 = 32
P (two heads) = 10/32 = 5/16

Example 10: What is the probability of getting a sum of 22 or more when four dice are thrown?
Sol: Total number of ways = 64 = 1296. Number of ways of getting a sum 22 are 6,6,6,4 = 4! / 3! = 4
6,6,5,5 = 4! / 2!2! = 6. Number of ways of getting a sum 23 is 6,6,6,5 = 4! / 3! = 4.
Number of ways of getting a sum 24 is 6,6,6,6 = 1.
Fav. Number of cases = 4 + 6 + 4 + 1 = 15 ways. P (getting a sum of 22 or more) = 15/1296 = 5/432

Example 11: Two dice are thrown together. What is the probability that the number obtained on one of
the dice is multiple of number obtained on the other dice?
Sol:Total number of cases = 62 = 36
Since the number on a die should be multiple of the other, the possibilities are
(1, 1) (2, 2) (3, 3) ------ (6, 6) --- 6 ways
(2, 1) (1, 2) (1, 4) (4, 1) (1, 3) (3, 1) (1, 5) (5, 1) (6, 1) (1, 6) --- 10 ways
(2, 4) (4, 2) (2, 6) (6, 2) (3, 6) (6, 3) -- 6 ways
Favorable cases are = 6 + 10 + 6 = 22. So, P (A) = 22/36 = 11/18

Example 12: From a pack of cards, three cards are drawn at random. Find the probability that each card
is from different suit.
Sol: Total number of cases = 52C3
One card each should be selected from a different suit. The three suits can be chosen in 4C3 was
The cards can be selected in a total of (4C3) x (13C1) x (13C1) x (13C1)
Probability = 4C3 x (13C1)3 / 52C3
= 4 x (13)3 / 52C3

Example 13: Find the probability that a leap year has 52 Sundays.
Sol: A leap year can have 52 Sundays or 53 Sundays. In a leap year, there are 366 days out of which there
are 52 complete weeks & remaining 2 days. Now, these two days can be (Sat, Sun) (Sun, Mon) (Mon,
Tue) (Tue, Wed) (Wed, Thur) (Thur, Friday) (Friday, Sat).
So there are total 7 cases out of which (Sat, Sun) (Sun, Mon) are two favorable cases. So, P (53 Sundays)
=2/7
Now, P(52 Sundays) + P(53 Sundays) = 1
So, P (52 Sundays) = 1 - P(53 Sundays) = 1 – (2/7) = (5/7)

Example 14: Fifteen people sit around a circular table. What are odds against two particular people
sitting together?
Sol: 15 persons can be seated in 14! Ways. No. of ways in which two particular people sit together is 13!
× 2!
The probability of two particular persons sitting together 13!2! / 14! = 1/7
Odds against the event = 6 : 1

Example 15: Three bags contain 3 red, 7 black; 8 red, 2 black, and 4 red & 6 black balls respectively. 1 of
the bags is selected at random and a ball is drawn from it. If the ball drawn is red, find the probability
that it is drawn from the third bag.
Sol: Let E1, E2, E3 and A are the events defined as follows.
E1 = First bag is chosen
E2 = Second bag is chosen
E3 = Third bag is chosen
A = Ball drawn is red
Since there are three bags and one of the bags is chosen at random, so P (E1) = P(E2) = P(E3) = 1 / 3
If E1 has already occurred, then first bag has been chosen which contains 3 red and 7 black balls. The
probability of drawing 1 red ball from it is 3/10. So, P (A/E1) = 3/10, similarly P(A/E2) = 8/10, and P(A/E3) =
4/10. We are required to find P(E3/A) i.e. given that the ball drawn is red, what is the probability that the
ball is drawn from the third bag by Baye’s rule

Problem: A bag contains 3 red balls and 5 blue balls. What is the probability of randomly drawing a red
ball?
Solution:
Total balls = 3 + 5 = 8
P(Red) = 3/8

Problem: A fair die is rolled. What is the probability of rolling an even number?
Solution:
Favorable outcomes = {2, 4, 6}
Total outcomes = 6
P(Even) = 3/6 = ½

Problem: A fair coin is flipped twice. What is the probability of getting at least one heads?
Solution:
Possible outcomes: {HH, HT, TH, TT}
Favorable outcomes: {HH, HT, TH}
P(At least one H) = ¾

Problem: What is the probability of drawing a heart from a standard deck of 52 cards?
Solution:
Total hearts = 13
P(Heart) = 13/52 = 1/4

Problem: A jar contains 6 red, 4 blue, and 10 green marbles. What is the probability of drawing a blue or
green marble?
Solution:
P(Blue or Green) = (4 + 10) / (6 + 4 + 10) = 14/20 = 7/10

Problem: A die is rolled and a coin is flipped. What is the probability of getting a 5 on the die and tails on
the coin?
Solution:
P(5) = 1/6, P(Tails) = 1/2
P(5 and Tails) = (1/6) × (1/2) = 1/12

Problem: A card is drawn from a deck. If it is red, what is the probability that it is a heart?
Solution:
Total red cards = 26 (13 hearts, 13 diamonds)
P(Heart | Red) = 13/26 = 1/2

Problem: If a die is rolled twice, what is the probability of getting at least one 6?
Solution:
P(No 6 in one roll) = 5/6
P(No 6 in two rolls) = (5/6) × (5/6) = 25/36
P(At least one 6) = 1 - 25/36 = 11/36

Problem: A committee of 3 people is selected from 5 men and 4 women. What is the probability that the
committee consists of all women?
Solution:
Total ways to choose 3 people = C(9,3) = 84
Ways to choose 3 women = C(4,3) = 4
P(All women) = 4/84 = 1/21

Problem: A number is randomly chosen from 1 to 10. What is the probability of picking 2 or 7?
Solution:
P(2 or 7) = P(2) + P(7) = 1/10 + 1/10 = 2/10 = 1/5

Problem: Two cards are drawn from a deck. What is the probability of both being aces?
Solution:
P(First Ace) = 4/52
P(Second Ace | First Ace) = 3/51
P(Both Aces) = (4/52) × (3/51) = 1/221

Problem: A bag contains 7 white and 3 black balls. What is the probability of drawing two black balls in a
row?
Solution:
P(First Black) = 3/10
P(Second Black | First Black) = 2/9
P(Both Black) = (3/10) × (2/9) = 1/15

Problem: What is the probability of drawing a full house in a five-card hand?

Solution:
Total 5-card hands = C(52,5) = 2,598,960
Ways to get a full house = 3,744
P(Full House) = 3,744 / 2,598,960 ≈ 0.00144

Problem: A number is randomly selected from 1 to 20. What is the probability that the number is prime?
Solution:
Prime numbers from 1 to 20: {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19} (8 total)
Total numbers = 20
P(Prime) = 8/20 = 2/5

Problem: In a lottery, a player picks 6 numbers from 1 to 49. What is the probability of winning
(matching all 6 numbers)?
Solution:
Total ways to pick 6 numbers = C(49,6) = 13,983,816
Winning combinations = 1
P(Winning) = 1 / 13,983,816 ≈ 0.0000000715

Problem: A student guesses on a 4-question multiple-choice test, where each question has 4 options.
What is the probability that they get all answers correct?
Solution:
P(Correct on 1 question) = 1/4
P(All correct) = (1/4)⁴ = 1/256

Problem: What is the probability that in a group of 5 people, all have different birthdays? (Ignoring leap
years)
Solution:
Total ways to assign birthdays = 365⁵
Ways where no two share a birthday = 365 × 364 × 363 × 362 × 361
P(All different) = (365 × 364 × 363 × 362 × 361) / (365⁵) ≈ 0.9729

Problem: A bag contains 4 red, 3 blue, and 5 green balls. Two balls are drawn randomly. What is the
probability that both are red?
Solution:
Total balls = 4 + 3 + 5 = 12
P(First red) = 4/12
P(Second red | First red) = 3/11
P(Both red) = (4/12) × (3/11) = 1/11

Problem: A number is randomly selected from 1 to 30. What is the probability that it is a multiple of 3?
Solution:
Multiples of 3 from 1 to 30: {3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30} (10 numbers)
Total numbers = 30
P(Multiple of 3) = 10/30 = 1/3

Problem: Two dice are rolled. What is the probability that their sum is 7?
Solution:
Favorable pairs: (1,6), (2,5), (3,4), (4,3), (5,2), (6,1) → 6 outcomes
Total outcomes = 6 × 6 = 36
P(Sum = 7) = 6/36 = 1/6

Problem: A fair coin is flipped 3 times. What is the probability of getting at least one heads?
Solution:
P(No Heads) = (1/2)³ = 1/8
P(At least one Heads) = 1 - 1/8 = 7/8
Problem: What is the probability that a randomly arranged set of the letters in "APPLE" starts with "A"?
Solution:
Total ways to arrange "APPLE" = 5!/2! = 60
Ways where "A" is first = 4!/2! = 12
P(Starts with A) = 12/60 = 1/5

Problem: A fair die is rolled. What is the expected value of the outcome?
Solution:
E(X) = (1+2+3+4+5+6) / 6 = 3.5