Practice Probability Problems

Professor D. Doreen

1. A card is drawn at random from a deck of 52 playing cards. What is the

probability that it is an ace or a face card?
2. If a die is rolled twice, what is the probability that the first produces a 5 or
a 6, and the second anything but 3?
3. In a single throw of two dice, what is the probability that a doublet (two of
the same) or a 9 will appear?
4. In a single throw of a two dice, what is the probability that neither a
doublet nor a 9 will appear?
5. In a single throw of two dice, what is the probability that neither a doublet
nor an 8 will appear?
6. In a bag, there are 6 white and 5 black balls. If they are drawn out one by
one without replacement, what is the chance that the first will be white,
the second black, and so on alternatively?
7. One man draws three cards from a well-shuffled deck without
replacement and at the same time another man tosses a coin. What is
the probability that one will obtain three cards of the same suit and a
head?
8. A man owns a home in town and a cabin in the mountains. In any one
year the probability of the house being burglarized is 0.01, and the
probability of the cabin being burglarized is 0.05. For any one year, what
is the probability that:
a) both will be burglarized?
b) one or the other will be burglarized?
c) neither will be burglarized?
9. From a box containing 6 white balls and 4 black balls, 3 balls are drawn at
random. Find the probability that 2 are white, and 1 is black: (3)
a) If each ball is returned before the next is drawn
b) If the 3 balls are drawn successfully without replacement
10. A person draws 3 balls in a succession without replacement from a box
containing 8 black, 8 white, and 8 red balls. If he is to receive $5 if he
does not draw a black ball, what is his expectation? (4)
1

11. Three people work independently at deciphering a message in a code.

The expective probabilities that they will decipher it are 1/5, 1/4, 1/3.
What is the probability that he message will be deciphered? (3)
12. The probability that a certain door is locked is 1/2. The key to the door is
one of 12 keys in a cabinet. If a person selects two keys at random from
the cabinet and takes them to the door with him, what is the probability
that he can open the door without returning from another key? (3)
13. A father and son practice shooting at a target. If on the average, the
father hits the target 3 times out of four and the son hits it four time out
of seven, what is the probability, when both shoot simultaneously, that
the target is hit at least once? (3)
14. If 3 dice are thrown, find the probability that: (3)
a) all 3 will show four
b) all three will be alike
c) 2 will show fours and the third something else
d) only two will be alike
e) all three will be different
15. What is the probability of throwing at least 4 sevens in 5 throws of a pair
of dice? (4)
16. A bag contains 50 envelopes of which 10 contain $5 each, 10 contain $1
each, and the other are empty. What is our expectation of drawing a
single envelope? (4)
17. A lot consists of ten good articles, four articles with only minor defects,
and two with major defects. One is drawn at random. Find the probability
that: (3)
(a) It has no defects
(b) It has no major defects
(c) It is either good or has major defects
18. Seven dice are rolled. Calling a 5 or a 6 success, find the probability of
getting:
(a) exactly 4 successes
(b) at most 4 successes

19. If a man having a batting average of 0.40 comes to bat 5 times in a

game, what is the probability that he will get:
(a) exactly 2 hits
(b) less than 2 hits
20. According to records in the registrars office, 5% of the students in a
certain course fail. What is the probability that out of 6 randomly selected
students who have taken the course less than 3 have failed?
21. A student on the average can solve half of the problem given him. In
order to pass he is required to solve 7 out of 10 problems in an
examination. What is the probability that he will pass?
22. Find the probability of obtaining the most probable number of heads, if a
coin is tossed 6 times.
23. One bag contains 6 oranges and 5 grapefruit and a second bag contains 8
grapefruit and 6 oranges. If a bag is selected at random and then one
fruit is chosen, find the probability that an orange will be selected.
24. You are given the option of drawing a bill from one of two boxes. In one
box are 9 dollar bills and 1 ten dollar bill, and in the other box are 5 one
dollar bills, 3 ten dollar bills and 7 five dollar bills. What is the probability
that you will draw a ten dollar bill?
25. Find the probability of the first 5 persons encountered on a given day, at
least 3 of them were born on a Saturday?
26. If the probabilities that a person will die someday from heart disease,
cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia are, respectively; .52, .17, .01 and .05.
What is the probability that a person will die from one of these causes?
27. From an urn containing 5 red, 4 white, and 3 black marbles, three
marbles are drawn with replacement. What is the probability that:
a) all are white
b) 2 are white and 1 is red
c) 1 is white, 1 is red and 1 is black
28. If
a) 2
b) 4
c) 5

a die rolled five times, what is the probability that a one will turn up
times
times
times