Probability & Statistics
Problem Set 1
Problem 1: Determine the probability p, or an estimate of it, for each of the
following events:
a) A king, ace, jack of clubs, or queen of diamonds appears in drawing a
single card from a well-shuffled ordinary deck of cards.
b) The sum 9 appears in a single toss of a pair of fair dice.
c) A non defective bolt will be found next if out of 600 bolts already
examined, 12 were defective.
d) A 7 or 11 comes up in a single toss of a pair of fair dice.
e) At least 1 head appears in 3 tosses of a fair coin.
Problem 2: A marble is drawn at random from a box containing 10 red, 30
white, 20 blue, and 15 orange marbles. Find the probability that it is
a) Orange or red;
b) Not red or blue;
c) Not blue;
d) White;
e) Red, white, or blue.
Problem 3: Two marbles are drawn in succession from the box of Problem 2,
replacement being made after each drawing. Find the probability that
a) Both are white;
b) The first is red and the second is white;
c) Neither is orange;
d) They are either red or white or both (red and white);
e) The second is not blue;
f) The first is orange;
g) At least one is blue;
h) At most one is red;
i) The first is white but the second is not;
j) Only one is red;
k) Only one is blue.
Probability & Statistics
Problem 4: Work Problem 3 with no replacement after each drawing.
Problem 5: Suppose that a number x is to be selected from the real line S, and let
A; B; and C be the events represented by the following subsets of S, where the
notation {x : - - - } denotes the set containing every point x for which the
property presented following the colon is satisfied:
A = {x : 1 ≤ x ≤ 5}
B = {x : 3 ≤ x ≤ 7}
C = {x : x ≤ 0}
Describe each of the following events as a set of real numbers:
a) A'
b) A ∪ B
c) B ∩ C'
d) A' ∩ B' ∩ C'
e) (A ∪ B) ∩ C
Problem 6: Three six-sided dice are rolled. The six sides of each die are
numbered from 1 to 6. Let A be the event that the first die shows an even
number, let B be the event that the second die shows an even number, and let C
be the event that the third die shows an even number. Also, for each i = 1;…; 6,
let Ai be the event that the first die shows the number i, let Bi be the event that
the second die shows the number i, and let Ci be the event that the third die
shows the number i. Express each of the following events in terms of the named
events described above:
a) The event that all three dice show even numbers.
b) The event that no die shows an even number.
c) The event that at least one die shows an odd number.
d) The event that at most two dice show odd numbers.
e) The event that the sum of the three dice is no greater than 5.
Problem 7: Consider two events A and B such that P (A) = 1/3 and P (B) = 1/2.
Determine the value of P (B ∩ A') for each of the following conditions:
a) A and B are disjoint;
b) A B;
c) P (A ∩ B) = 1/8
Problem 8: If a man has six different sport-shirts and four different pairs of
slacks, how many different combinations can he wear?
Problem 9: A box contains 100 balls, of which r are red. Suppose that the balls
are drawn from the box one at a time, at random, without replacement.
Probability & Statistics
Determine:
a) The probability that the first ball drawn will be red;
b) The probability that the 50th ball drawn will be red;
c) The probability that the last ball drawn will be red.
Problem 10: If k people are seated in a random manner in a row containing n
seats (n > k), what is the probability that the people will occupy k adjacent seats
in the row?
Problem 11: Three cards are drawn at random (without replacement) from an
ordinary deck of 52 cards. Find the number of ways in which one can draw
a) A diamond and a club and a heart in succession;
b) Two hearts and then a club or a spade
Problem 12: In how many ways can 3 different coins be placed in 2 different
purses?
Problem 13: In how many ways can 5 people be seated on a sofa if there are
only 3 seats available?
Problem 14: In how many ways can 7 books be arranged on a shelf if
a) any arrangement is possible;
b) 3 particular books must always stand together;
c) two particular books must occupy the end.
Problem 15: How many numbers consisting of five different digits each can be
made from the digits 1, 2, 3, …, 9 if
a) the numbers must be odd;
b) the first two digits of each number are even.
Problem 16: [3, Exercise 1.69]
In how many ways can 3 men and 3 women be seated at a round table if
a) no restriction is imposed;
b) 2 particular women must not sit together;
c) each woman is to be between 2 men.
Problem 17: In how many ways can 2 men, 4 women, 3 boys and 3 girls be
selected from 6 men, 8 women, 4 boys and 5 girls if
a) no restrictions are imposed;
b) a particular man and woman must be selected.
Probability & Statistics
Problem 18: From 5 statisticians and 6 economists, a committee of 3
statisticians and 2 economists is to be formed. How many different committees
can be formed if
a) no restrictions are imposed;
b) two particular statisticians must be on the committee;
c) 1 particular economist cannot be on the committee.
Problem 19: An urn contains 6 red and 8 blue marbles. Five marbles are drawn at
random from it without replacement. Find the probability that 3 are red and 2 are
blue.
Problem 20:
a) Find the probability of getting the sum 7 on at least 1 of 3 tosses of a pair
of fair dice;
b) How many tosses are needed in order that the probability in (a) be greater
than 0.95.
Problem 21: A sample space consists of 3 sample points with associated
probabilities given by 2p; p2 and 4p - 1. Find the value of p.
Problem 22: How many words can be made from 5 letters if
a) all letters are different;
b) 2 letters are adjacent;
c) all letters are different but 2 particular letters cannot be adjacent.
Problem 23: Four integers are chosen at random between 0 and 9, inclusive.
Find the probability that
a) they are all different;
b) not more than 2 are the same.
Problem 24: A pair of dice is tossed repeatedly. Find the probability that an 11
occurs for the first time on the 6th toss.
Problem 25: What is the least number of tosses needed in Problem 29 so that the
probability of getting an 11 will be greater than
a) 0.5;
b) 0.95.
Probability & Statistics
References
[1] Walpole, R. E., Myers, R. H., Myers, S. L. and Ye, K., Probability &
Statistics for Engineers & Scientists, 9th ed., MA, USA: Prentice-Hall, 2012.
[2] DeGroot, M. H. and Schervish, M. J., Probability and Statistics, 4th ed.,
MA, USA: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012.
[3] Murray, R. S., John, J. S. and R, A. Srinivasan, Probability and Statistics,
3rd ed., USA: McGraw-Hill, 2009.