Course Code: MA512L
Course Name: Probability Theory
Instructor: Shilpak Banerjee
Teaching Assistant: Harsh Jaiswal
Problem set 01
Topics:
Axioms of probability, case of equally likely outcomes and combinatorial analysis.
1. Suppose that n persons P1 , P2 , . . . , Pn (n ≥ 3) are made to stand in a row at random. Find the
probability that there are exactly r persons between P1 and P2 , where r is an integer such that
0 ≤ r ≤ n − 2.
2. Three numbers are chosen at random without replacement from the set {1, 2, 3, . . . , 50}. Find the
probability that the chosen numbers form a geometric progression.
3. A secretary types n letters and prepares n corresponding envelopes. In a hurry, she places at
random one letter in each envelope. What is the probability that at least one letter is in the
correct envelope?
Further, find an approximation of this probability for n = 50.
4. A box contains 1000 light bulbs. It is known that:
• The probability that there is at least one defective bulb is 0.1.
• The probability that there are at least two defective bulbs is 0.05.
Answer the following:
(a) Let α be the real root of the equation:
x · ex + sin(x) + 3 = 0.
Determine the probability that there are exactly α defective bulbs in the box, i.e., find
P (exactly α defective bulbs).
5. If P (E) = 0.9 and P (F ) = 0.8, show that P (E ∩ F ) ≥ 0.7. In general, prove that
P (E ∩ F ) ≥ P (E) + P (F ) − 1.
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6. You toss an ordinary coin repeatedly, recording the outcome of each toss. You do this until you
have seen either two Heads or three Tails in total and then you stop.
(a) Write down the sample space.
(b) Write down the event “you toss the coin exactly four times” as a subset of the sample space.
(c) Find the probability that the process stops because you obtained two Heads.
7. A middle row on a plane seats m people. Assume that n of them order chicken and the remaining
m − n order pasta. The flight attendant returns with the meals, but has forgotten who ordered
what and discovers that they are all asleep, so she puts the meals in front of them at random.
What is the probability that at least one of them receives the correct order?
8. Pick an integer in [1, 1000] at random. Compute the probability that it is divisible neither by 12
nor by 15.
9. If 2n boys are divided into two equal subgroups, find the probability that the two tallest boys will
be:
(a) in different subgroups, and
(b) in the same subgroup.
10. Consider a town with N people. A person sends a rumour to a second person, who in turn repeats
it to a third person, and so on. Suppose that at each stage the recipient of the rumour is chosen
at random from the remaining N − 1 people. What is the probability that the rumour will be
repeated n times:
(a) Without being repeated to any person?
(b) Without being repeated to the originator?
11. Suppose that each of n sticks is broken into one long and one short part. The 2n parts are arranged
into n pairs from which new sticks are formed.
Find the probability:
(a) that the parts will be joined in the original order,
(b) that all long parts are paired with short parts.
12. What is the probability that among k random digits:
(a) 0 does not appear;
(b) 1 does not appear;
(c) neither 0 nor 1 appears;
(d) at least one of the two digits 0 and 1 does not appear?
13. If n balls are placed at random into n cells, find the probability that exactly one cell remains
empty.
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14. Let Ω be the set of all non-negative integers, and let S be the set of all subsets of Ω. In each of
the following cases, does P define a probability measure on the measurable space (Ω, S)?
(a) For A ∈ S, let
X e−λ λx
P (A) =
x∈A
x!
where λ > 0.
(b) For A ∈ S, let X
P (A) = (1 − p)x p
x∈A
where 0 < p < 1.
(c) For A ∈ S, let (
1 if A has a finite number of elements,
P (A) =
0 otherwise.
15. A die is rolled twice. Let the sample space be Ω = {(i, j) : i, j ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}}, and assume that
each elementary event in Ω is equally likely (i.e., each with probability 1/36).
Define the following events:
• A: the first throw shows a number less than or equal to 2,
• B: the second throw shows a number at least 5,
• C: both throws show numbers greater than or equal to 4.
Compute the following probabilities:
(a) P (A ∪ B ∪ C)
(b) P (A ∩ B ∩ C)
(c) P (A ∩ B c ∩ C c )
(d) P (Ac ∩ B ∩ C)
(e) P (Ac ∪ (B ∩ C c ))
(f) P (Ac ∪ (B c ∩ C))