PM SHRI SCHOOL JNV SRIBHUMI

STD 10 Maths Total Marks : 51

CH-14- MLM (PROBABILITY)

* Choose the right answer from the given options. [1 Marks Each] [35]

1. The probability of a certain event is

(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 1/2 (D) -1
Ans. : (b):The probability of a certain event is always 1 .
2. Which of the following cannot be the probability of an event?
(A) 1

2
(B) 1 (C) 0 (D) 1.5

Ans. : (d):For probability of an event E, 0 ≤ P (E) ≤ 1 .

3. If probability of success is 0.9% , then probability of failure is
(A) 0.91 (B) 0.091 (C) 99.1 (D) 0.991
Ans. : (d):Probability of failure = 1 - Probability of success
0.9 9 1000−9 991
= 1− = 1− = = = 0.991
100 1000 1000 1000

4. If P (E) = 0.01 , then P (not E) is equal to

(A) 0.09 (B) 0.1 (C) 0.9 (D) 0.99

Ans. : (d):P (not E) = 1 − P (E) = 1 − 0.01 = 0.99

5. A single letter is selected at random from the word 'PROBABILITY'. The
probability that it is a vowel is
(A) 3

11
(B) 4

11
(C) 2

11
(D) 5

11

Ans. : (b):Total number of letters in the word

'PROBABILITY' = 11
∴ Total number of possible outcomes = 11
Vowels in the word 'PROBABILITY' are {O, A, I , I }
So, favourable number of outcomes = 4
∴ Required probability =
4

11

6. A letter is chosen at random from the English alphabets. Find the probability
that the letter chosen succeeds V .
(A) 2

13
(B) 5

26
(C) 1

26
(D) 1

Ans. : (a):Total number of outcomes = 26

Letters succeeding V are {W , X, Y , Z} i.e.,

favourable number of outcomes is 4 .
∴ Required probability =
4

26
=
2

13

7. Two coins are tossed simultaneously. The probability of getting no head is

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 (A) 1
(B) 1

2
(C) 3
(D) 1
4 4

Ans. : (a):Total possible outcomes are {HH, HT , T H, T T } i.e., 4 in number.

Favourable outcome is {T T } i.e., 1 in number.
∴ P( getting no head )=
1

8. In a single throw of a die, the probability of getting a multiple of 2 is

(A) 1

2
(B) 1

3
(C) 1

6
(D) 2

Ans. : (a):Total number of possible outcomes = 6

Favourable outcomes of getting multiple of 2 are {2, 4, 6} i.e., 3 in number.

∴ Required probability =
3

6
=
1

9. A card is drawn from a pack of 52 cards. The probability of drawing a black face
card is
(A) 2

13
(B) 26
3
(C) 1

13
(D) 3

52

Ans. : (b):Total number of cards = 52

Number of black face cards = 6

6 3
∴ P ( getting a black face card ) = =
52 26

10. A box contains 100 discs, numbered from 1 to 100. If one disc is drawn at
random from the box, then the probability that it bears a prime number less
than 30 , is
(A) 100
7
(B) 10
1
(C) 4

50
(D) 9

50

Ans. : (b):Total number of possible outcomes = 100

Let E be the event 'drawing a prime number less than 30

∘
.
Outcomes favourable to E are {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 , 23, 29} i.e., 10 in number.
10 1
∴ P (E) = =
100 10

11. If a die is thrown, then what is the probability of getting a number less than 4
and greater than 3 ?
(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 1

3
(D) 2

Ans. : (a):There is no such number lie on a die, which is less than 4 and greater
than 3 .
∴ Required probability = 0
12. In a single throw of a pair of dice, the probability of getting the sum as a perfect
square is
(A) 7

36
(B) 36
5
(C) 8

36
(D) 11

36

Ans. : (a):Total number of possible outcomes = 6 × 6 = 36

Let E be the event 'getting the sum as a perfect square'.
∴ Outcomes favorable to E are {(1, 3), (2, 2), (3, 1) , (3, 6), (4, 5), (5, 4), (6, 3)∣ i.e., 7 in

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 number.
7
∴ P (E) =
36

13. A card is accidently dropped from a pack of 52 playing cards. The probability
that it is a red card is
(A) 1

2
(B) 1

13
(C) 1

52
(D) 12

13

Ans. : (a):Total number of possible outcomes = 52

∵ Number of red cards = 26

So, number of favourable outcomes = 26
∴ Required probability =
26

52
=
1

14. A letter is chosen at random from the English alphabet. Probability that it is a
letter of the word "SIMULTANEOUSLY" is
(A) 14

26
(B) 11

26
(C) 10

26
(D) 15

26

Ans. : (b):Total number of possible outcomes = 26

Distinct letters in the word "SIMULTANEOUSLY" are {S, I, M, U, L, T, A, N, E, O, Y} i.e.,
11 in number.
So, favourable number of outcomes = 11
∴ Required probability =
11

26

15. A child has a block in the shape of a cube with one letter written on each face as
follows:

The cube is thrown once. What is the probability of getting A ?

(A) 1

3
(B) 1

6
(C) 1

2
(D) 1

Ans. : (a):Total number of possible outcomes = 6

As there are two A 's.

∴ Favourable number of outcomes = 2

∴ Required probability =
2

6
=
1

16. A bag contains 4 red, 5 black and 3 yellow balls. A ball is taken out of the bag at
random. Find the probability that the ball taken out is not of yellow colour.
(A) 2

3
(B) 1

3
(C) 3

4
(D) 1

Ans. : (c):Total number of possible outcomes = 4 + 5 + 3 = 12

Favourable number of outcomes = 5+4 = 9

∴ Required probability =
9

12
=
3

17. A bag contains 12 red roses only. Shalini takes out one rose without looking into
the bag. The probability that she takes out an orange rose is
(A) 1

2
(B) 0 (C) 1 (D) 2

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 Ans. : (b):Since, there is no orange rose in the bag.
∴ Required probability = 0

18. A month is selected at random from a year. The probability that it is May or July
is
(A) 1

12
(B) 1

6
(C) 3

4
(D) 1

Ans. : (b):Number of months in a year = 12

So, total number of possible outcomes = 12

Favourable outcomes are May or July i.e., 2
∴ Required probability =
2

12
=
1

19. A card is drawn at random from a pack of 52 cards. The probability that the
drawn card is not a king is
(A) 1

13
(B) 9

13
(C) 13
4
(D) 12

13

Ans. : (d):Total number of possible outcomes = 52

Number of king cards in the pack = 4

∴ Number of cards that are not king = 52 − 4 = 48
So, favourable number of outcomes = 48
∴ Required probability =
48

52
=
12

13

20. A die is thrown once. Find the probability of getting an odd prime number.
(A) 1

2
(B) 1

3
(C) 1

6
(D) 1

Ans. : (b):Total possible outcomes are (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} i.e., 6 in number.

Favourable outcomes are {3, 5} i.e., 2 in number.
∴ Required probability =
2

6
=
1

21. A card is drawn from a pack of well-shuffled deck of 52 playing cards. The
probability that the number on the card is a perfect square is
(A) 2

13
(B) 3

13
(C) 13
5
(D) 7

52

Ans. : (a):Perfect square numbers on the cards are [4, 9} i.e., 2 in number.
∴ Total number of favourable outcomes = 4 × 2 = 8

Total number of possible outcomes = 52

∴ Required probability =
8

52
=
13
2

22. An integer is chosen between 0 to 50 . What is the probability that it is divisible

by 4 ?
(A) 12

49
(B) 13

49
(C) 1

7
(D) 4

49

Ans. : (a):Total number of possible outcomes = 49

Favourable outcomes are {4, 8, 12, … , 48} i.e., 12 in number.

∴ Required probability =
12

49

23. A die is thrown once. The probability of getting a non-prime number is

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 (A) 2

3
(B) 1

3
(C) 1

2
(D) 1

Ans. : (c):Total number of possible outcomes = 6

Favourable outcomes are {1, 4, 6} i.e., 3 in number.

∴ P( getting a non-prime number )=
3

6
=
1

24. The probability expressed as a percentage of a particular occurrence can never

be
(A) Less than 100 (B) less than 0
(C) greater than 1 (D) anything but a whole number

Ans. : (b):We know that, the probability expressed as a percentage always lies from
0 to 100 . So, it cannot be less than 0 .
25. When a die is thrown, the probability of getting an odd number less than 3 is
(A) 1

6
(B) 1

3
(C) 1

2
(D) 0

Ans. : (a):When a die is thrown, then total number of possible outcomes = 6

Odd number less than 3 is 1 only.

∴ Number of favourable outcomes = 1

∴ Required probability =
1

26. A card is drawn from a deck of 52 cards. The event E is that card is not an ace
of hearts. The number of outcomes favourable to E is
(A) 4 (B) 13 (C) 48 (D) 51
Ans. : (d):In a deck of 52 cards, there are 13 cards of hearts and 1 of them is ace of
heart.
Hence, the number of outcomes favourable to E = 52 − 1 = 51

27. One ticket is drawn at random from a bag containing tickets numbered 1 to 40 .
The probability that the selected ticket has a number, which is a multiple of 5 is
(A) 1

5
(B) 3

5
(C) 4

5
(D) 1

Ans. : (a):Total number of outcomes = 40

Multiples of 5 from 1 to 40 are {5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40}

So, number of favourable outcomes = 8

∴ Required probability =
8

40
=
1

28. A letter is chosen at random from the letters of the word 'PRONUNCIATION'.
Find the probability that the letter chosen is a vowel.
(A) 6

13
(B) 2

3
(C) 1

8
(D) 7

13

Ans. : (a):∵ There are 13 letters in the given word.

∴ Total number of possible outcomes = 13
Vowels are O, U, I, A, I, O i.e., 6 in number.

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 ∴ Favourable number of outcomes = 6

∴ Required probability = 6/13

29. A bag contains 4 red and 6 black balls. A ball is taken out of the bag at random.
Find the probability of getting a black ball.
(A) 1

5
(B) 2

5
(C) 4

5
(D) 3

Ans. : (d):Number of red balls = 4

Number of black balls = 6
Total number of balls in the bag = 4 + 6 = 10
∴ P( getting a black ball )=
6

10
=
3

30. A die is thrown once. Find the probability of getting a number which is not a
factor of 36 .
(A) 1

3
(B) 1

2
(C) 1

6
(D) 5

Ans. : (c):Let E be the event of getting a number on the die which is not a factor of
36 and this number is 5 .
Total number of possible outcomes = 6 Number of outcomes favourable to event
E = 1

∴ Required probability =
1

31. The blood group of 16 students of class X are recorded as follows :

A, B, O, O, AB, O, A, O, B, A, O, B, A, O, O, AB

Find the probability of selecting a student with blood group .

O

(A) 5

16
(B) 7

16
(C) 3

16
(D) 1

Ans. : (b):Total number of possible outcomes = 16

Let E be an event of selecting a student with blood group .
O

So, favourable number of outcomes = 7

7
∴ P (E) =
16

32. A box contains 100 red cards, 200 yellow cards and 50 blue cards. If a card is
drawn at random from the box, then find the probability that it will be neither
yellow nor a blue card.
(A) 1

7
(B) 2

7
(C) 3

7
(D) 5

Ans. : (b):Total number of cards = 100 + 200 + 50 = 350

Total number of possible outcomes = 350
Number of favourable outcomes = Number of red cards

= 100

∴ P( neither getting yellow nor a blue card) =

100

350
=
2

33. Sunita picked a prime number from the integers 1 to 20 . The probability that it
will be the number 13 is
(A) 1

20
(B) 1

8
(C) 2

7
(D) 13

20

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 Ans. : (b):∵ Prime number between 1 to 20 are {2, 3, 5, 7 , 11, 13, 17, 19}
So, total number of outcomes = 8
Favourable outcome is {13} i.e., 1
∴ Required probability =
1

34. A box contains 100 memory cards out of which 25 are good and 75 are
defective. A memory card is selected at random. The probability that selected
memory card is defective is
(A) 1

4
(B) 1

2
(C) 3

4
(D) 1

Ans. : (c):Total number of possible outcomes = 100

Favourable number of outcomes = 75

P( selecting a defective memory card )=
75

100
=
3

35. A game of chance consists of spinning an arrow on a circular board, divided into
8 equal parts, which comes to rest pointing at one of the numbers 1, 2, 3, … . , 8
as shown in the given figure which are equally likely outcomes. What is the
probability that the arrow will point at a number which is less than 9 .

(A) 1

2
(B) 1

3
(C) 1

8
(D) 1

Ans. : (d):Total number of outcomes = 8

Favourable outcomes are {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8} i.e., 8 in number.

∴ P( getting a number less than 9)= 8

8
= 1

* Given section consists of questions of 2 marks each. [16]

36. Suppose we throw a die once.

a. What is the probability of getting a number greater than 4?
b. What is the probability of getting a number less than or equal to 4?
Ans. :
i. Let E be the event that ‘getting a number greater than 4’.
The number of possible outcomes is six: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and the
outcomes favourable to E are 5 and 6.
Therefore, the number of outcomes favourable to E is 2.
so, P(E) = P(number greater than 4) = = 2

6
1

ii. Let F be the event that ‘getting a number less than or equal to 4’.
Number of possible outcomes = 6
Outcomes favourable to the event F are 1, 2, 3, 4.
 so, the number of outcomes favourable to F is 4.
Therefore, P(F) =
4

6
=
2

37. One card is drawn from a well-shuffled deck of 52 cards. Calculate the
probability that the card will
i. be an ace,
ii. not be an ace.
Ans. : Well-shuffling ensures equally likely outcomes.
i. There are 4 aces in a deck. Let E be the event ‘the card is an ace’.
The number of outcomes favourable to E = 4
The number of possible outcomes = 52
Therefore, P(E) = 4

52
=
13
1

ii. Let F be the event ‘card drawn is not an ace’.

The number of outcomes favourable to the event F = 52 - 4 = 48
The number of possible outcomes = 52
Therefore, P(F) = 48

52
=
12

13

38. A bag contains lemon flavoured candies only. Malini takes out one candy
without looking into the bag. What is the probability that she takes out
i. an orange flavoured candy?
ii. a lemon flavoured candy?
Ans. : Since, P(E) + P (not E) = 1
P (not E) = 1 - P(E) = 1 - 0.05 = 0.95
39. A game of chance consists of spinning an arrow which comes to rest pointing at
one of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (see figure) and these are equally likely
outcomes. What is the probability that it will point at:

i. 8?
ii. an odd number?
iii. a number greater than 2?
iv. a number less than 9?
Ans. : Probability that two students are not having same birthday = P(E) = 0.992
We know, probability of occurrence of an event and probability of non occurrence
of event = 1
∴ P(E) + ¯
¯¯¯
P (E ) =1
⇒ 0.992 + ¯
¯¯¯
P (E ) =1
⇒P (E )
¯
¯¯¯
= 1 - 0.992
 ¯
= 0.008
¯¯¯
⇒P (E )

Hence, P(two students have the same birthday) = 0.008

40. Five cards—the ten, jack, queen, king and ace of diamonds, are well-shuffled
with their face downwards. One card is then picked up at random.
i. What is the probability that the card is the queen?
ii. If the queen is drawn and put aside, what is the probability that the
second card picked up is
a. an ace?
b. a queen?
Ans. : Total number of favourable outcomes = 5
N umber of f avourble outcomes
P roabibilty of the event =
T otal number of possible outcomes

i. (i) There is only one queen.

∴ Favourable outcome = 1

Hence, P (the queen) = 1

ii. In this situation, total number of favourable outcomes = 4

a. Favourable outcome = 1
Hence, P (an ace) = 1

b. There is no card as queen.

∴ Favourable outcome = 0
Hence, P (the queen) = 0

4
= 0 ​
41. 12 defective pens are accidentally mixed with 132 good ones. It is not possible to
just look at a pen and tell whether or not it is defective. One pen is taken out at
random from this lot. Determine the probability that the pen taken out is a good
one.
Ans. : Total number of pens = 132 + 12 = 144
Number of good pens = 132
Let E be the event of getting a good pen.
Therefore, P(getting a good pen), P(E) =
Number of outcomes favorable to E 132 11
= =
Number of all possible outcomes 144 12

Thus, the probability of getting a good pen is 11

12
.
42. i. A lot of 20 bulbs contain 4 defective ones. One bulb is drawn at random
from the lot. What is the probability that this bulb is defective?
ii. Suppose the bulb drawn in (i) is not defective and is not replaced. Now
one bulb is drawn at random from the rest. What is the probability that
this bulb is not defective?
Ans. :
i. Total number of favourable outcomes = 20
N umber of f avourble outcomes
P robablity of the event =
T otal number of possible outcomes
 Number of favourable outcomes = 4
Hence P (getting a defective bulb) = 4

20
=
1

ii. Now total number of favourable outcomes = 20 - 1 = 19

Number of favouroable outcomes = 19 - 4 = 15
Hence P (getting a non-defective bulb) = 15

19

43. A lot consists of 144 ball pens of which 20 are defective and the others are
good. Nuri will buy a pen if it is good, but will not buy if it is defective. The
shopkeeper draws one pen at random and gives it to her. What is the
probability that
i. she will buy it?
ii. she will not buy it?
Ans. : Total number of favourable outcomes = 144
N umber of f avourble outcomes
P roabibilty of the event =
T otal number of possible outcomes

i. Number of non-defective pens = 144 - 20 = 124

Number of favourable outcomes = 124
Hence P (she will buy) = P (a non-defective pen) = 124

144
=
31

36

ii. Number of favourable outcomes = 20

Hence P (she will not buy) = P (a defective pen) = 20

144
=
5

36

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