PROBABILITY

PREVIOUS YEAR BOARD EXAM QUESTIONS

(2007-2016)
1 MARK QUESTIONS
1. The probability that an event happens in one trial of
an experiment is 0.4. Three independent trials of
experiment are performed. Find the probability that
event happens atleast once.

2. A four digit number is formed using 1,2,3,4,5 with no

repetitions. Find the probability that number is divisible
by 5.

4 MARK QUESTIONS
1. Three persons A, B and C apply for a job of Manager
in a Private Company. Chances of their selection (A, B
and C) are in the ratio 1 : 2 : 4. The probabilities that A,
B and C can introduce changes to improve profits of the
company are 0.8, 0.5 and 0.3 respectively. If the change
does not take place, find the probability that it is due to
the appointment of C.

2. A and B throw a pair of dice alternately. A wins the

game if he gets a total of 7 and B wins the game if he
gets a total of 10. If A starts the game, then find the
probability that B wins.

3. A box has 20 pens of which 2 are defective. Calculate

the probability that out of 5 pens drawn one by one
with replacement, at most 2 are defective.

4.

5. A problem in mathematics is given to 4 students A, B,

C, D. Their chances of solving the problem, respectively,
are 1/3, 1/4, 1/5 and 2/3. What is the probability that
(i) the problem will be solved? (ii) utmost one of them
will solve the problem?

6. There are two bags A and B. Bag A contains 3 white

and 4 red balls, while Bag B contains 3 red and 4 white
balls. Three balls are drawn at random without
replacement from one of the bags and found out to be
two white and one red. Find the probability that these
were drawn from bag B.

7. Twelve cards, numbered from 1 to 12 are placed in a

box and mixed thoroughly and then a card is drawn
randomly from them. If it is known that the number on
the drawn card is more than 7, find the probability that
it is an odd number.

8. A bag contains 4 balls. Two balls are drawn at

random without replacement and are found to be
white. What is the probability that all balls in bag are
white?

9. In a game, a man wins Rs.5 for getting a number

greater than 4 and loses Rs.1, otherwise fair die is
thrown. The man decided to throw a die thrice, but
decided to quit as and when he gets a number greater
than 4. Find the expected value of amount he
wins/loses.

10. A committee of 4 students is selected at random,

from a group consisting of 7 boys and 4 girls. Find the
probability that there are exactly 2 boys in committee,
given that at least one girl must be there in committee.

11. A random variable X has following probability

distribution, as given below. Find the value of C and
calculate the mean of distribution.

12. A man speaks truth in 60% of cases, while B in 90%

of cases. In what percent of cases are they likely to
contradict each other in same fact? In the cases of
contradiction, do you think, the statement of B will
carry more weight as he speaks truth in more number
of cases than A?

13. Out of a group of 30 people, 20 always speak truth.

Two persons are selected at random from the group.
Find the probability distribution of selected persons
who speak the truth. Also, find the mean of
distribution. What values are described in this
question?

14. In a group of 25 scientists,15 are keen observers and

dont commit errors in dealing with data, whereas
others, while they are hard working, they commit errors
in data. Two scientists are selected from group at
random. Find the probability distribution of number of
scientists who are keen observers and dont commit
error in data. Hence, find the mean of the distribution.
What value is depicted in the question?

15. On a multiple choice examination with three

possible answers (out of which only one is correct) for
each of the five questions, what is the probability that a
candidate would get four or more correct answers just
by guessing?

16. A family has 2 children. Find the probability that

both are boys, if it is known that

(i). at least one of the children is a boy,

(ii). the elder child is a boy.

17. An urn contains 7 red and 4 blue balls. Two balls are
drawn at random with replacement. Find the
probability of getting (a) 2 red balls (b) 2 blue balls (c)
one red and one blue ball.

18. A card is drawn at random from a well-shuffled pack

of 52 cards. Find the probability that it is neither an ace
nor a king.

19. There are two bags I and II. Bag I contains 2 white
and 3 red balls and Bag II contains 4 white and 5 red
balls. One ball is drawn at random from one of the bags
and is found to be red. Find the probability that it was
drawn from bag II.

20. An urn contains 6 red and 5 blue balls. Two balls are
drawn at random with replacement. Find the
probability of getting
(i). 2 red balls

(ii). 2 blue balls

(iii). one red and one blue ball

21. If the mean and variance of a binomial distribution

are respectively 9 and 6, find the distribution.
22. 12 cards, numbered 1 to 12, are placed in a box,
mixed up thoroughly and then a card is drawn at
random from the box. If it is known that the number on
the drawn card is more than 3, find the probability that
it is an even number.

23. Find the mean and variance of following probability

distribution.

24. A pair of dice is thrown 4 times. If getting a doublet

is considered a success, find the probability distribution
of number of successes.

25. Probabilities of solving a specific problem

independently by A and B are and 1/3 respectively. If
both try to solve the independently, find the probability
that (a). the problem is solved (b). exactly one of them
solves the problem.

26. Find the mean number of heads in three tosses of a

fair coin.
27. Suppose a girl throws a die. If she gets a 1 or 2, she
tosses a coin three times and notes the number of
tails. If she gets 3, 4, 5 or 6, she tosses a coin once and
notes whether a head or tail is obtained. If she
obtained exactly one tail, what is the probability that
she threw 3, 4, 5 or 6 with the die?

28. A man takes a step forward with probability 0.4 and

backward with probability 0.6. Find the probability that
at the end of 5 steps, he is one step away from the
starting point.

29. Ten cards, numbered 1 to 10 are placed in a box,

mixed up thoroughly and then one card is drawn
randomly. If it is known that the number on the drawn
card is more than 5, what is the probability that it is an
even number?

30. Two numbers are selected at random (without

replacement) from positive integers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Let X denote the larger of the two numbers obtained.
Find the mean and variance of the probability
distribution of X.
31. Three machines E1, E2 and E3 in a certain factory
producing electric bulbs, produce 50%, 25% and 25%
respectively, of the total daily output of electric bulbs. It
is known that 4% of the bulbs produced by each of
machines E1 and E2 are defective and that 5% of those
produced by machine E3 are defective. If one bulb is
picked up at random from a days production, calculate
the probability that it is defective.

32. How many times must a fair coin be tossed so that

the probability of getting at least one head is more than
80%?

33. In a set of 10 coins, 2 coins are with heads on both

the sides. A coin is selected at random from this set and
tossed five times. If all the five times, the result was
heads, find the probability that the selected coin had
heads on both the sides.

34. For 6 trials of an experiment, let X be a binomial

variable which satisfies the relation 9P(X = 4) = P(X = 2).
Find the probability of success.

35. Three cards are drawn successively with

replacement from a well shuffled pack of 52 cards. Find
the probability distribution of the number of spades.
Hence find the mean of the distribution.

36. From a set of 100 cards numbered 1 to 100, one card

is drawn at random. Find the probability that the
number on the card is divisible by 6 or 8, but not by 24.

37. Bag I contains 4 red and 5 black balls and bag II

contains 3 red and 4 black balls. One ball is transferred
from bag I to bag II and then two balls are drawn at
random (without replacement) from bag II. The balls so
drawn are both found to be black. Find the probability
that the transferred ball is black.

38. A and B throw a die alternatively till one of them

gets a number greater than four and wins the game. If A
starts the game, what is the probability of B winning?

39. A die is thrown three times. Events A and B are

defined as below:

A : 5 on the first and 6 on the second throw.

B : 3 or 4 on the third throw.

Find the probability of B, given that A has already

occurred.
40. In 3 trials of a binomial distribution, the probability
of exactly 2 successes is 9 times the probability of 3
successes. Find the probability of success in each trial.

41. An urn contains 3 red and 5 black balls. A ball is

drawn at random, its colour is noted and returned to
the urn. Moreover, 2 additional balls of the colour
noted down, are put in the urn and then two balls are
drawn at random (without replacement) from the urn.
Find the probability that both the balls drawn are of red
colour.

42. An unbiased coin is tossed 4 times. Find the mean

and variance of the number of heads obtained.

43. A bag A contains 4 black and 6 red balls and bag B

contains 7 black and 3 red balls. A die is thrown. If 1 or 2
appears on it, then bag A is chosen, otherwise bag B. If
two balls are drawn at random (without replacement)
from the selected bag, find the probability of one of
them being red and another black.

44. Consider the experiment of tossing a coin. If the coin

shows tail, toss it again but if it shows head, then throw
a die. Find the conditional probability of the event that
the die shows a number greater than 3 given that
there is at least one head.

45. How many times must a man toss a fair coin so that
the probability of having atleast one head is more than
90%?

46. From a lot of 15 bulbs which include 5 defectives, a

sample of 2 bulbs is drawn at random (without
replacement). Find the probability distribution of the
number of defective bulbs.

47. A pair of dice is thrown 4 times. If getting a doublet

is considered a success, find the probability distribution
of number of successes. Hence find the mean of the
distribution.

48. Four cards are drawn successively with replacement

from a well shuffled deck of 52 cards. What is the
probability that

(i). all the four cards are spades?

(ii). only 2 cards are spades?

49. Two cards are drawn simultaneously, without
replacement from a well shuffled pack of 52 cards. Find
the mean and variance of number of red cards.

50. Three balls are drawn one by one without

replacement, from a bag containing 5 white and 4 green
balls. Find the probability distribution of number of
green balls drawn.

51. A coin is biased so that the head is three times likely

to occur than tail. If coin is tossed three times, find the
probability distribution of number of tails.

52. A biased die is twice as likely to show an even

number as an odd number. The die is rolled three times.
If occurrence of an even number is taken as success,
write the probability distribution of number of
successes. Also, find the mean of successes.

53. The probability that A hits the target is 1/3 and that
B hits the target is 2/5. If each one of A and B shoots at
the target, what is the probability that:

(a). target is hit?

(b). exactly one of them hits the target?

54. On a MCQ examination, with three possible
answers, out of which only one is correct, for each of
five questions, what is the probability that the
candidate would four or more answers correctly only by
guessing?

55. A die is thrown again and again, until three sixes are
obtained. Find the probability of obtaining third six in
sixth throw of die.

56. A football match may be either won, drawn or lost

by the host countrys team. So, there are three ways of
forecasting the result of any one match, one correct and
two incorrect. Find the probability of forecasting at
least three correct results for four matches.

57.

58.
59. A bag contains 3 red and 7 black balls. Two balls are
selected at random one-by-one without replacement. If
the second selected ball happens to be red, what is the
probability that the first selected ball is also red?

60. A couple has 2 children. Find the probability that

both are boys, if it is known that (i) one of them is a
boy, (ii) the older child is a boy.

61. A class has 15 students whose ages are 14, 17, 15,
14, 21, 17, 19, 20, 16, 18, 20, 17, 16, 19 and 20 years.
One student is selected in such a manner that each has
the same chance of being chosen and the age X of the
selected student is recorded. What is the probability
distribution of the random variable X? Find the mean of
X.

62. Three cards are drawn at random (without

replacement) from a well shuffled pack of 52 playing
cards. Find the probability distribution of number of red
cards. Hence find the mean of the distribution.

63. Assume that each born child is equally likely to be a

boy or a girl. If a family has two
children, what is the conditional probability that both
are girls ? Given that

(i) the youngest is a girl.

(ii) atleast one is a girl.

64. A man is known to speak the truth 5 out of 6 times.

He throws a pair of dice and reports that it is a doublet.
Find the probability that it is actually a doublet.

65. An experiment succeeds thrice as often as it fails.

Find the probability that in the next five trials, there will
be at least 3 successes.

6 MARK QUESTIONS
1. An urn contains 3 white and 6 red balls. Four balls are
drawn one by one with replacement from the urn. Find
the probability distribution of the number of red balls
drawn. Also find mean and variance of the distribution.

2. Bag A contains 3 red and 5 black balls, while bag B

contains 4 red and 4 black balls. Two balls are
transferred at random from bag A to bag B and then a
ball is drawn from bag B at random. If the ball drawn
from bag B is found to be red, find the probability that
two red balls were transferred from A to B.

3. Find the mean, the variance and the standard

deviation of the number of doublets in three throws of
a pair of dice.

4. A Bag I contains 5 red and 4 white balls and a Bag II

contains 3 red and 3 white balls. Two balls are
transferred from the Bag I to the Bag II and then one
ball is drawn from the Bag II. If the ball drawn from the
Bag II is red, then find the probability that one red ball
and one white ball are transferred from the Bag I to the
Bag II.

5. Three numbers are selected at random without

replacement from first six positive integers. If X denotes
smallest of three obtained, find probability distribution
of X. Hence, find mean and variance of distribution.

6. Of the students in a college, it is known that 70%

reside in hostel, and rest outside hostel. Previous year
results report that 40% of hostelers attain A grade and
20% of others residing outside obtain A grade in annual
examination. At the end of the year, a student is chosen
at random from college and he has an A grade, what is
the probability that he is a hosteler?

7. Five bad oranges are accidently mixed with 20 good

ones. If 4 oranges are drawn successively, with
replacement, find the probability distribution of bad
oranges drawn. Hence, find the mean and variance of
distribution.

8. A, B and C throw a pair of dice in that order

alternatively, till one of them gets a total of 9 and wins
the game. Find their respective probabilities of winning,
if A starts first.

9. Assume that chances of a patient having heart attack

is 40%. Assuming that a meditation and yoga course
reduces the risk of heart attack by 30%, and
prescription of certain drug reduces the chance by 25%.
At a time, a patient can choose any one of the two
options with equal probabilities. It is given that after
going through one of the two options, the patient
selected at random undergoes heart attack. Find the
probability that the patient followed a course of
meditation and yoga. Interpret the result, and state
which of the method is more beneficial for patient.

10. In a group of 400 people, 160 are smokers and non-

vegetarian, 100 are smokers and vegetarian and
remaining are non smokers and vegetarians. The
probability of getting a special chest disease are 35%,
20% and 10% respectively. A person from group is
selected at random and is found to be suffering the
disease. What is the probability that the selected
people is smoker and vegetarian? What value is
reflected in the question?

11. From a lot of 10 bulbs, which includes 3 defectives, a

sample of 2 bulbs is drawn at random. Find the
probability distribution of the number of defective
bulbs.

12. A card from a pack of 52 cards is lost. From the

remaining cards of the pack, two cards are drawn at
random and are found to both clubs. Find the
probability of the lost card being of clubs.
13. A bag contains 4 balls. Two balls are drawn at
random, and are found to be white. What is the
probability that all balls are white?

14. An insurance company insured 2000 scooter drivers,

4000 car drivers and 6000 truck drivers. The probability
of an accident involving a scooter, a car and a truck are
0.01, 0.03 and 0.15 respectively. One of the insured
persons meets with an accident. What is the probability
that he is a scooter driver.

15. In a bulb factory, machines A, B and C manufacture

60%, 30% and 10% bulbs respectively. 1%, 2% and 3% of
the bulbs produced respectively by A, B and C are found
to be defective. A bulb is picked up at random from the
total production and found to be defective. Find the
probability that this bulb was produced by the machine
A.

16. Given three identical boxes, A, B and C each

containing two coins. In box A, both coins are gold
coins, in box B, both coins are silver coins and in box C
one is gold and another is silver. A person chooses a box
at random and takes out a coin. If the coin is of gold,
what is the probability that the other coin in box is also
gold?

17. An urn contains 5 red and 2 black balls. Two balls

are randomly drawn, without replacement. Let X
represent the number of black balls drawn. What are
the possible values of X? Is X a random variable? If yes,
find the mean and variance of X.

18. Two bags I and II are given. Bag I contains 3 red and
4 black balls while bag II contains 5 red and 6 black
balls. A ball is drawn at random from one of the bags
and is found to be black. Find the probability that it was
drawn from bag II.

19. Find the probability distribution of the number of

doublets in four throws of a pair of dice. Also find the
mean and variance of this distribution.

20. Two numbers are selected at random (without

replacement) from first six positive integers. Let X
denote the larger of the two numbers obtained. Find
the probability distribution of X. Find the mean and
variance of this distribution.
21. In a factory which manufactures bolts, machines A,
B and C manufacture respectively 30%, 50% and 20% of
the bolts. Of their outputs 3, 4 and 1 percent
respectively are defective bolts. A bolt is drawn at
random from the product and is found to be defective.
Find the probability that this is not manufactured by
machine B.

22. An unbiased coin is tossed n times. Let the random

variable X denote the number of times the head occurs.
If P(X =1), P(X = 2) and P(X = 3) are in AP, find the value
of n.

23. Suppose a boy throws a die. If he gets a 1 or 2, he

tosses a coin three times and notes down the number of
heads. If he gets 3, 4, 5 or 6 he tosses the coin once and
notes down whether a head or a tail is obtained. If he
obtains exactly one head, what is the probability that
he obtained 3, 4, 5, or 6 with the die?

24. A man is known to speak truth 3 out of 5 times. He

throws a die and reports that it is 4. Find the probability
that it is actually a 4.
25.

26. A bag contains 4 red and 4 black balls, another bag

contains 2 red and 6 black balls. One of the two bags is
selected at random and two balls are drawn at random
without replacement from the bag and are found to be
both red. Find the probability that the balls are drawn
from the first bag.

27. In answering a question on a multiple choice test, a

student either knows the answer or guesses. Let3/5 be
the probability that he knows the answer and 2/5 be
the probability that he guesses. Assuming that a
student who guesses at the answer will be correct with
probability 1/3, what is the probability that the student
knows the answer given that he answered it correctly?

28. In a certain college, 4% of boys and 1% of girls are

taller than 1.75 metres. Furthermore, 60% of students
in college are girls. A student is selected at random from
college, and is found to be taller than 1.75 meters. Find
the probability that selected student is girl.
29. A fair die is rolled. If 1 turns up, a ball is picked at
random from bag A, if 2 or 3 turns up, a ball is picked at
random from bag b, and otherwise from bag C. Bag A
contains 3 red and 2 white balls, bag B contains 3 red
and 4 white balls, and bag C contains 4 red and 5 white
balls. The die is rolled, a bag is picked up and a ball is
drawn. If the ball drawn is red, find the probability that
bag B was picked up.

30. From a pack of 52 cards, one card is lost. From

remaining 51 cards, two cards are drawn at random
without replacement and are found to be both
diamonds. What is the probability that the lost card was
a card of heart?

31. In an examination, 10 questions of true-false type

are asked. A student tosses a fair coin to determine his
answer to each question. If the coin falls head, he
answers True and if coin falls tail, he answers false.
Show that the probability that he answers utmost 7
questions correctly is 121/128.
32. Two cards are drawn successively without
replacement from a well shuffled pack of 52 cards. Find
the mean and variance of number of red cards.

33.

34.
35.

36. A letter is known to have come either from

CALCUTTA or TATANAGAR. On the envelope, just two
consecutive letters, TA are visible. What is the
probability that letter came from Tatanagar and that
letter came from Calcutta?

37. A man is known to speak the truth 3 out of 5 times.

He throws a die and reports that it is 1. Find the
probability that it is actually 1.

38. Consider the experiment of tossing a coin. If the coin

shows head, toss it again, but if it shows tail, then
throw a die. Find the conditional probability of the
event that the die shows a number greater than 4
given that there is at least one tail.

39. In a game, a man wins rupees five for a six and loses
rupee one for any other number, when a fair die is
thrown. The man decided to throw a die thrice but to
quit as and when he gets a six. Find the expected value
of the amount he wins/loses.

40. An insurance company insured 2000 scooter drivers,

4000 car drivers and 6000 truck drivers. The
probabilities of an accident for them are 0.01, 0.03 and
0.15 respectively. One of the insured persons meets
with an accident. What is the probability that he is a
scooter driver or a car driver?

41. Five cards are drawn one by one, with replacement,

from a well shuffled deck of 52 cards. Find the
probability that

(i). all the five cards are diamonds.

(ii). only 3 cards are diamonds.

(iii). none is a diamond.

42. A card from a pack of 52 playing cards is lost. From

the remaining cards of the pack three cards are drawn
at random (without replacement) and are found to be
all spades. Find the probability of the lost card being a
spade.
43. A and B throw a die alternatively till one of them
gets a 6 and wins the game. Find their respective
probabilities of winning, if A starts first.

44. There are three coins. One is a two-headed coin

(having head on both faces), another is a biased coin
that comes up heads 75% of the times and third is also a
biased coin that comes up tails 40% of the times. One of
the three coins is chosen at random and tossed, and it
shows heads. What is the probability that it was the
two-headed coin?

45. Two numbers are selected at random (without

replacement) from the first six positive integers. Let X
denote the larger of the two numbers obtained. Find
the probability distribution of the random variable X,
and hence find the mean of the distribution.