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 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
xample 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