WORKSHEET

PROBABILITIES
1 Trials and Expectation
1.1 The probability of rain on any particular day in a mountain village is 0.2.
On how many days is rain not expected in a year of 365 days?
1.2 United’s manager estimates that the team has a 65% chance of winning any
particular game and an 85% chance of not drawing any particular game.
a) What are the manager’s estimates most likely to be based on?
b) If the team plays 40 games this season, find the manager’s expectation of the
number of games the team will lose.
c) If the team loses one game more than the manager expects this season, explain
why this does not necessarily mean that they performed below expectation.
1.3 Katya randomly picks one of the 10 cards shown.

A C B C B A C C B A

If she repeats this 40 times, how many times is Katya expected to pick a card that
is not blue and does not have a letter B on it?
1.4 A numbered wheel is divided into eight sectors of equal size, as shown. The
wheel is spun until it stops with the arrow pointing at one of the numbers.

4 1
3 3
4 2
3 5

Axel decides to spin the wheel 400 times.

a) Find the number of times the arrow is not expected to point at a 4.
b) How many more times must Axel spin the wheel so that the expected number
of times that the arrow points at a 4 is at least 160?

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1.5 A set of data values is 8,13,17,18, 24, 32, 34 and 38. Find the probability
that a randomly selected value is more than one standard deviation from the mean.
1.6 One student is randomly selected from a school that has 837 boys. The
probability that a girl is selected is 47 . Find the probability that a particular boy
is selected.

2 Venn Diagrams
2.1 One digit is randomly selected from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Three
possible events are:

• A: a multiple of 3 is selected.

• B: a factor of 8 is selected.

• C: a prime number is selected.

a) Show that the only pair of mutually exclusive events from A, B and C is A
and B, and find P (A ∪ B).
b) Find: (i) P (A ∪ C) (ii) P (B ∪ C).
2.2 In a survey, 50% of the participants own a desktop (D), 60% own a laptop
(L) and 15% own both. What percentage of the participants owns neither a desktop
nor a laptop?
2.3 Forty children were each asked which fruits they like from apples (A),
bananas (B) and cherries (C).
The following Venn diagram shows the number
A C
of children that like each type of fruit.
6 7 14
Find the probability that a randomly selected
1
child likes apples or bananas. 3 2

2
5
B

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2.4 Two ordinary fair dice are rolled and three events are:

• X: the sum of the two numbers rolled is 6.

• Y : the difference between the two numbers rolled is zero.

• Z: both of the numbers rolled are even.

a) List the outcomes that are favourable to:

(i) X and Y (ii) X and Z (iii) Y and Z.
b) What do your answers to part a tell you about the events X,Y and Z?
2.5 The letters A, B, B, B, C, D, D and E are written onto eight cards and
placed in a bag. Find the probability that the letter on a randomly selected card
is:
a) a vowel or in the word DOMAIN
b) a consonant or in the word DOUBLE.
2.6 A garage repaired 132 vehicles last month. The number of vehicles that
required electrical (E), mechanical (M ) and bodywork (B) repairs are given in
the diagram below.
Find the probability that a randomly selected
E M
vehicle required:
12 13 47
a) mechanical or bodywork repairs
5
b) no bodywork repairs 11 18
c) exactly two types of repair.
26
B

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2.7 The 100 students at a technical college must study at least one subject from
Pure Mathematics (P ), Statistics (S) and Mechanics (M ). The numbers studying
these subjects are given in the diagram opposite.
a) Who does the number 17 in the diagram
refer to?
S
P
b) Find the probability that a randomly
selected student studies:
(i) Pure Mathematics or Mechanics 33 17 32 7 11
M
(ii) exactly two of these subjects.
c) List the three subjects in descending order
of popularity.

2.8 Each of 27 tourists was asked which of the countries Angola (A), Burundi
(B) and Cameroon (C) they had visited. Of the group, 15 had visited Angola; 8
had visited Burundi; 12 had visited Cameroon; 2 had visited all three countries;
and 21 had visited only one. Of those who had visited Angola, 4 had visited only
one other country. Of those who had not visited Angola, 5 had visited Burundi
only. All of the tourists had visited at least one of these countries.
a) Draw a fully labelled Venn diagram to illustrate this information.
b) Find the number of tourists in set B ′ and describe them.
c) Describe the tourists in set (A ∪ B) ∩ C ′ and state how many there are.
d) Find the probability that a randomly selected tourist from this group had
visited at least two of these three countries.

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3 Independent Events and Multiplication Law
3.1 Find the probability that the sum of the scores on three rolls of an ordinary
fair die is less than 5.
3.2 Areza passes through three independent sets of traffic lights when she drives
to work. The probability that she has to stop at any particular set of lights is 0.2.
Find the probability that Areza:
a) first has to stop at the second set of lights
b) has to stop at exactly one set of lights
c) has to stop at any set of lights.
3.3 It is known that 8% of all new FunX cars develop a mechanical fault within
a year and that 15% independently develop an electrical fault within a year. Find
the probability that within a year a new FunX car develops:
a) both types of fault b) neither type of fault.
3.4 A certain horse has a 70% chance of winning any particular race. Find the
probability that it wins exactly one of its next two races.
3.5 The probabilities that a team wins, draws or loses any particular game are
0.6, 0.1 and 0.3, respectively.
a) Find the probability that the team wins at least one of its next two games.
b) If 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss,
find the probability that the team scores a total of more than 1 point in its next
two games.
3.6 On any particular day, there is a 30% chance of snow in Slushly. Find the
probability that it snows there on: a) none of the next 3 days b) exactly one
of the next 3 days.

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3.7 Fatima will enter three sporting events at the weekend. Her chances of
winning each of them are shown in the following table.

Event Shot put Javelin Discus

Chance of
winning 85% 40% 64%

a) Assuming that the three events are independent, find the probability that
Fatima wins:
(i) the shot put and discus (ii) the shot put and discus only (iii) exactly two of
these events.
b) What does ’the three events are independent’ mean here? Give a reason why
this may not be true in real life.
3.8 A fair six-sided spinner, P , has edges marked 0, 1, 2, 2, 3 and 4.
A fair four-sided spinner, Q, has edges marked 0, −1, −1 and −2.
Each spinner is spun once and the numbers on which they come to rest are added
together to give the score, S. Find:
a) P (S = 2) b) P (S 2 = 1).
3.9 Letters and packages can take up to 2 days to be delivered by Speedipost
couriers. The following table shows the percentage of items delivered at certain
times after sending.

Same day After 1 day After 2 days

Letter 40% 50% 10%

Package of 15% 55% 30%

a) Is there any truth in the statement ’If you post 10 letters on Monday then only
nine of them will be delivered before Wednesday’? Give a reason for your answer.
b) Find the probability that when three letters are posted on Monday, none of
them are delivered on Tuesday.
c) Find the probability that when a letter and a package are posted together, the
letter arrives at least 1 day before the package.

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3.10 The following histogram represents the results of a national survey on bus
departure delay times.

20

(% of buses per minutes)

18

Frequency Density
16
14
12

10
8
6
4
2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Delay Time (min)

Two buses are selected at random. Calculate an estimate of the probability that:
a) both departures were delayed by less than 4 minutes
b) at least one of the buses departed more than 7 minutes late.
3.11 A biased die in the shape of a pyramid has five faces marked 1, 2, 3, 4 and
5. The possible scores are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and P (x) = k−x
25
, where k is a constant.
a) Find, in terms of k, the probability of scoring:
(i) 5 (ii) less than 3.
b) The die is rolled three times and the scores are added together. Evaluate k
and find the probability that the sum of the three scores is less than 5.
3.12 A game board is shown in the diagram.
START

1 3 4 5 6 8 9

10

18 17 15 14 13 11

Players take turns to roll an ordinary fair die, then move their counters forward
from ’start’ a number of squares equal to the number rolled with the die. If a
player’s counter ends its move on a coloured square, then it is moved back to the
start.

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a) Find the probability that a player’s counter is on ’start’ after rolling the die:
(i) once (ii) twice.
b) Find the probability that after rolling the die three times, a player’s counter
is on:
(i) 18 (ii) 17
3.13 In a group of 60 students, 27 are male (M ) and 20 study History (H).
The Venn diagram shows the numbers of students in these and other categories.

M H

18 9 11

22

One student is selected at random from the group. Show that the events ’a male
is selected’ and ’a student who studies History is selected’ are independent.
3.14 Each child in a group of 80 was asked whether they regularly read (R) or
regularly watch a movie (M ). The results are given in the Venn diagram below

R M

12 20 30

18

One child is selected at random from the group. Event R is ’a child who regularly
reads is selected’ and event M is ’a child who regularly watches a movie is selected’.
Determine, with justification, whether events R and M are independent.
3.15 Two fair 4-sided dice, both with faces marked 1, 2, 3 and 4, are rolled.
Event A is ’the sum of the numbers obtained is a prime number’.
Event B is ’the product of the numbers obtained is an even number’.
a) Find, in simplest form, the value of P (A), of P (B) and of P (A ∩ B).
b) Determine, with justification, whether events A and B are independent.
c) Give a reason why events A and B are not mutually exclusive.

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3.16 Two ordinary fair dice are rolled.
Event X is ’the product of the two numbers obtained is odd’.
Event Y is ’the sum of the two numbers obtained is a multiple of 3’.
a) Determine, giving reasons for your answer, whether X and Y are independent.
b) Are events X and Y mutually exclusive? Justify your answer.
3.17 A fair 8-sided die has faces marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. The score
when the die is rolled is the number on the face that the die lands on. The die is
rolled twice.
Event V is ’one of the scores is exactly 4 less than the other score’.
Event W is ’the product of the scores is less than 13’.
Determine whether events V and W are independent, justifying your answer.
3.18 Two hundred children are categorised by gender and by whether or not
they own a bicycle. Of the 108 males, 60 own a bicycle, and altogether 90 children
do not own a bicycle.
a) Tabulate these data.
b) Determine, giving reasons for your answer, whether ownership of a bicycle is
independent of gender for these 200 children.
c) What percentage of the females and what percentage of the males own bicycles?
Explain how your answers to part c) confirm the result obtained in part b).
3.19 At an election, it was found that people voted for Party X independently
of their income group. The following table shows that 12400 people from three
income groups voted altogether, and that 7440 of them voted for Party X.

Low Medium High Totals

Party X a b c 7440

Totals 3100 6820 2480 12400

Find the value of a, of b and of c.

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3.20 The speed limit at a motorway junction is 120km/h. Information about
the speeds and directions in which 207 vehicles were being driven are shown in the
following table.

North East South West

Under limt 36 27 36 39

Over limit 15 15 18 21

Providing evidence to support your answer, determine which vehicles’ speeds were
independent of their direction of travel.

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