Probability Example Questions With Solutions
Probability Example Questions With Solutions
If 8 new teachers are to be divided among 4 schools, how many divisions are possible? What if
each school must receive 2 teachers?
If it is assumed that all poker hands are equally likely, what is the probability of being dealt
(a) a flush? (A hand is said to be a flush if all 5 cards are of the same suit.)
(b) one pair? (This occurs when the cards have denominations a, a, b, c, d, where a, b, c, and d are all distinct.)
(e) four of a kind? (This occurs when the cards have denominations a, a, a, a, b.)
Two symmetric dice have had two of their sides painted red, two painted black, one painted
yellow, and the other painted white. When this pair of dice is rolled, what is the probability
that both dice land with the same color face up?
A pair of dice is rolled until a sum of either 5 or 7 appears. Find the probability that a 5 occurs first.
There are 15 tennis balls in a box, of which 9 have not previously been used. Three of the balls are
randomly chosen, played with, and then returned to the box. Later, another 3 balls are randomly
chosen from the box. Find the probability that none of these balls has ever been used.
Suppose we have 10 coins such that if the coin is flipped, heads will appear with probability i/10, i = 1, 2,..., 10. When one
of the coins is randomly selected and flipped, it shows heads. What is the conditional probability that it was the fifth coin ?
Suppose that you continually collect coupons and that there are m different types. Suppose also that each time a new
coupon is obtained, it is a type i coupon with probability pi, i = 1,..., m. Suppose that you have just collected your nth
coupon. What is the probability that it is a new type?
Let X represent the difference between the number of heads and the number of tails obtained when a coin is
tossed n times. What are the possible values of X?
Five distinct numbers are randomly distributed to players numbered 1 through 5. Whenever two
players compare their numbers, the one with the higher one is declared the winner. Initially, players
1 and 2 compare their numbers; the winner then compares her number with that of player 3, and
so on. Let X denote the number of times player 1 is a winner. Find P{X = i}, i = 0, 1, 2, 3,
You have $1000, and a certain commodity presently sells for $2 per ounce. Suppose that after one week the
commodity will sell for either $1 or $4 an ounce, with these two possibilities being equally likely.
(a) If your objective is to maximize the expected amount of money that you possess at the end of the week, what
strategy should you employ?
(b) If your objective is to maximize the expected amount of the commodity that you possess at the end of the week,
what strategy should you employ?
Suppose that a biased coin that lands on heads with probability p is flipped 10 times. Given that a total of 6
heads results, find the conditional probability that the first 3 outcomes are (a) h, t, t (meaning that the first
flip results in heads, the second in tails, and the third in tails)