CPP - SANKALP_PROB-03-PH-VII

CPP
PROBABILITY – SHEET - 3
Independent Events, Pairwise and Mutual Independence
LEVEL-1
1. Three coins are tossed together. What is the probability of getting tail on first, head on second and tail
on third coin?

2. The odds that a book will be favorably reviewed by three independent crities are 5 to 2, 4 to 3, and 3 to 4
respectively : what is the probability that of the three reviews a majority will be favourable?

1 1
3. Probabilities of solving a specific problem independently by A and B are and respectively. If both try to
2 3
solve the problem independently, find the probability that
(i) the problem is solved (ii) exactly one of them solves the problem.
4. If the probability for A to fail in an examination is 0.2 and that of B to fail is 0.3, then find the probability
that either A or B fails.

5. In drawing two balls from a box containing 6 red and 4 white balls without replacement, which of the following
pairs is independent ?
(a) Red on first draw and red on second draw
(b) Red on first draw and white on second draw

6. A pair of fair coins is tossed yielding the equiprobable space S = {HH, HT, TH, TT}. Consider the events:
A = {head on first toss} = {HH, HT}, B = {head on second toss} = {HH, TH}
C = {head on exactly one coin} = {HT, TH}
Then check whether A, B, C are independent or not.

7. There are three urns A, B and C.Urn A contains 4 white balls and 5 blue balls. Urn B contains 4 white
balls and 3 blue balls. Urn C contains 2 white balls and 4 blue balls. One ball is drawn from each of these
urns. What is the probability that out of these three balls drawn, two are white balls and one is a blue
ball?

8. A student appears for tests I, II and III. The student is successful if he passes either in tests I and II or test
I and III. The probabilities of the student passing in tests I, II, III are p, q and 1/2 respectively. If the
probability that the student is successful is 1/2 then find the relation between p and q.
9. A coin is tossed m + n times (m > n). Show that the probability of at least m consecutive heads come up
n3
is
2m 2

10. If two switches S1 and S2 have respectively 90% and 80% chances of working. Find the respective probabilities
that each
of the following circuits will work.

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LEVEL-2
1. A lot contains 50 defective and 50 non-defective bulbs. Two bulbs are drawn at random, one at a time, with
replacement. The events A, B, C are defined as
(i) A = {the first bulb is defective},
(ii) B= {the second bulb is non-defective} and
(iii) C= {the two bulbs are both defective or both non-defective}.
Determine
(a) Whether A, B, C are pair wise independent, and
(b) Whether A, B, C are independent.

2. To pass a test a child has to perform successfully in two consecutive tasks, one easy and one hard task. The
easy task he can perform successfully with probability 'e' and the hard task he can perfrom successfully with
probability 'h', where h < e. He is allowed 3 attempts, either in the order (Easy, Hard, Easy) (option A) or in the
order (Hard, Easy, Hard) (option B) whatever may be the order, he must be successful twice in a row. Assuming
that his attempts are independent, in what order he choses to take the tasks, in order to maximise his probability
of passing the test.
3. An aircraft gun can take a maximum of four shots at an enemy’s plane moving away from it. The probability of
hitting the plane at first, second, third & fourth shots are 0.4, 0.3, 0.2 & 0.1 respectively. What is the probability
that the gun hits the plane .

4. A game is played with a special fair cubic die which has one red side, two blue sides, and three green sides.
The result is the colour of the top side after the die has been rolled. If the die is rolled repeatedly, the
probability that the second blue result occurs on or before the tenth roll, can be expressed in the form
3p  2 q
where p, q, r are positive integers, find the value of p2 + q2 + r2.
3r

5. Consider the following events for a family with children

A = {of both the genders} ; B = {at most one boy}
In which of the following (are/is) the events A and B are independent.
(a) if a family has 3 children (b) if a family has 2 children
Assume that the birth of a boy or a girl is equally likely mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

6. A player tosses an unbiased coin and is to score two points for every head turned up and one point for every
tail turned up. If Pn denotes the probability that his score is exactly n points, prove that
1
Pn – P n – 1 = (P – Pn – 1 ) n> 3
2 n–2
Also compute P1 and P2 and hence deduce the probability that he scores exactly 4.

7. The probabilities that three men hit a target are, respectively, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.4. Each fires once at the target. (As
usual, assume that the three events that each hits the target are independent)
(a) Find the probability that they all : (i) hit the target ; (ii) miss the target
(b) Find the probability that the target is hit : (i) at least once, (ii) exactly once.
(c) If only one hits the target, what is the probability that it was the first man?

8. Of the three independent events E1, E2 and E3 the probability that only E1 occurs is  , only E2 occurs is  and
only E3 occurs is  . Let the probability p that none of events E1, E2, or E3 occurs satisfy the equations

   2  p   and    3   p  2 . All the given probabilities are assumed to lie in the interval (0, 1).
Pr obability of occurrence of E1
Then 
Pr obability of occurrence of E3

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CPP - SANKALP_PROB-03-PH-VII

9. In a tournament, team X plays with each of the 6 other teams once. For each match the probabilities of a win,
draw and loss are equal. Find the probability that the team X, finishes with more wins than losses.
10. Cards are dealt one by one from a well shuffled pack of 52 cards. Find the probability that exactly n cards
are dealt before the first ace appears. If the cards are drawn further, then find the probability that exactly
k cards are dealt in all before the second ace.

ANSWER KEY (PROBABILITY – SHEET - 3)

Level-1
2 1
1. 1/8 2. 209/343 3. (i) (ii) 4. 0.44
3 2
5. both are NOT independent 6. not independent 7. 64/189
18 49
8. pq + p = 1 10. &
25 50

Level-2
1. yes & no 2. Option B 3. 0.6976 4. 283
5. Independent in (a) and not independent in (b) 6. P1 = 1/2 , P2 = 3/4, 11/16
7. (a) i) 0.06 ii) 0.21 (b) i) 0.79 ii) 0.44 (c) 9/44 8. 6
98 (51  n)(50  n)(49  n) (50n k)(49n k)
9. 10. ;
(13174950)
243 (13  51  50  49)

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