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FORM 5

Chapter 7: Probability
Part 1: Probability of an Event

Sample Space a set of all possible outcomes of an experiment.

Event a set of outcomes which satisfy a given condition. It is a subset of the sample space
Probability of an event occurring is the ratio of the number of outcomes in the event to the number of
outcome in the sample space.
,
() =
,
()
() =
()
P(A) = 1, means that the event is certain to occur
P(A) = 0, means that the event will not occur
Complement of two events if A represents an event, then A is the complement of A
( ) = 1 ()

Example 1 Example 2
A fair coin and a fair die are thrown simultaneously. It is given that A = {3, 4, 5, 6} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
What are the outcomes of the sample space, S? Hence, 6}. A number is chosen from set A and another is
find the probability of obtaining the head of the coin chosen from set B. What is the sample space, S?
and a number that is not more than 3 on the die. Hence, find the probability of obtaining two numbers
whose sum is less than 7.
 Example 3 Example 4
A bag has 20 cards. The cards are numbered 1 to 20 When an unbiased die is thrown, find the probability
respectively. If a card is chosen at random, find the of obtaining
probability of obtaining a) a number 5
a) an odd number b) a number greater than 3
b) an even number greater than 7 c) an odd number less than 4

Example 5 Example 6
When a pointer on disc that is divided into eight There are 25 red marbles and 20 blue marbles in a box,
sectors of equal size numbered 1 to 8, find the k yellow marbles are then added to the box so that the
probability that the pointer stops at probability of obtaining a blue marble from the box is
a) a number less than 6 2/5. Calculate the value of k.
b) an odd number greater than 2

Example 7 Example 8
A bag contains 3 red balls, 4 blue balls and 6 green In a class, 19 students passed an Additional
balls. Calculate the probability that a ball chosen at Mathematics test and 6 students failed the test. Then, k
random from the bag is students who passed the test join the class. The
a) not a green ball probability that a student chosen at random from that
b) a red or a green ball class passed the test now becomes 4/5. Find the value
c) a yellow ball of k.
Part 2: Probability of the Combination of Two Events
Example 9
An experiment is carried out by randomly choosing a
card from a set of cards numbered 1 to 8. Calculate the
probability that the card chosen has a number less than
5 or an even number.
Example 11
Example 10
A fair coin and a fair die are thrown simultaneously.
Calculate the probability of obtaining the head of the
head of the coin or the number 2 on the die.
Example 12
Two dice are thrown simultaneously. Calculate the Two fair dice are thrown simultaneously. Lis the
probability that the numbers on the two dice are the sample space of this experiment. Find the probability
same or the product of the number is less than 5. of obtaining
a) two numbers whose sum is more than 7 and they
are the same
b) two numbers whose sum is more than 7 or they
are the same

Example 13
Two boxes A and B contain cards numbered 1 to 4. A
card is chosen at random from box A and another card
is chosen at random from box B. find the probability
that the sum of the two number is
a) an even number and a number more than 5
b) an even number or a number more than 5
Example 14
Two fair coins are tossed simultaneously. If A
represents the event of obtaining the head of the first
coin and B represents the event of obtaining the tail of
the second coin, find the probability for the occurrence
of events A or B.

Example 15
A fair die and a fair coin are thrown simultaneously. List the outcomes of the sample space. Find the probability
of obtaining
a) the tail of the coin and the number 6 on the die
b) the tail of the coin or the number 6 on the die

Part 3: Probability of Mutually Exclusive Events

Two events A and B are mutually exclusive if the events A and B cannot happen at the same time.
Thus, = and ( ) = 0
Therefore, for two mutually exclusive events A and B
( ) = () + () ( )
= () + ()

Example 16
A fair die is thrown. X represents the event of obtaining an odd number and Y represents the event of obtaining
an even number which is greater than 3.
a) Determine whether the two events, X and Y, are mutually exclusive
b) Find the probability that the number obtained is an odd number or an even number greater than 3

Example 17
Box P contains five cards numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Box Q contains three cards numbered 1, 3, and
5 respectively. A card is drawn at random from box P and another is drawn at random from box Q. Calculate the
probability that the numbers on the two cards drawn are the same or have the product of an even number.
 Example 18
If P(A) = 1/8, P(B) = 1/6, P(C) = 1/5 and given that AB = , BC = , AC = , find each of the following
probabilities
a) P(A U B) b) P(A U C) c) P(B U C)

Example 19
In hockey match between team A and team B, based on the results of the past years, the probability that team A
wins is 0.2 and the probability that team wins is 0.5. Calculate the probability that
a) the match ends with a draw
b) team A or team B wins

Example 20
A box has 2 green balls, 4 red balls and 4 yellow balls. A ball is drawn at random from the box. Given that A
represents the event that a green ball is drawn and B represents the event that a yellow ball is drawn
a) calculate the probability for the occurrence of
(i) event A, (ii) event B
b) state whether the two events are mutually exclusive
c) calculate the probability for the occurrence of event A or event B
 Example 21
Each of the two boxes contains five cards numbered 1 to 5 respectively. A card is drawn at random from each
box. Calculate the probability that
a) both cards have the same number
b) the sum of the numbers on the two cards is 6
c) both cards have the same number or the sum of the numbers on the two cards is 6

Example 22
A number is chosen at random from the sample space, S = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11}. If X represents the event of
obtaining a number less than 8 and Y represents the event of obtaining a number greater than 7,
a) determine whether the events X and Y are mutually exclusive
b) calculate the probability for the occurrence of event X or event Y

Part 4: Probability of Independent Events

Two events, A and B are said to be independent events if the outcome of event A does not affect the
outcome of event B and vice versa
If A and B are two independent events, then the probability of event A and event B occurring is
( ) = () ()
A tree diagram can be used to list out the set of outcomes of an experiment which are independent events.
By incorporating the formula, the tree diagram can help to find the probability of independent events.
 Example 23
Three fair coins are tossed
a) Draw a tree diagram to show all possible outcomes
b) X represents the event that all three coins show the same while Y represents the event at least two coins
show the tail. Based on the tree diagram, find the probability for event X and Y respectively

Example 24
1 2 3
Salleh, Chye and Durai take an exam and the probabilities that they pass are , and respectively. Calculate
2 3 4

the probability that

a) only one of them passes the exam
b) at least two of them pass the exam
c) at least one of them passes the exam following probabilities
 Example 25
A bag has 3 blue marbles and 5 red marbles. A marble is drawn at random from the bag and its color is
recorded. It is then returned to the bag. After that, another marble is drawn at random from the bag and its color
is also recorded. Find the probability that
a) both the marbles are of the same color
b) both the marbles are of different colors

Example 26
A bag has 12 colored discs, 7 green and 5 yellow. Two discs are drawn at random, one after the other, without
replacement. Find the probability that
a) a green disc and a yellow disc are drawn
b) the two discs drawn are either both green or both yellow
 Example 27
Box A contains 2 cubes and 4 spheres. Box B contains 3 cubes and 1 sphere. An object is drawn at random from
box A and put into box B. then, an object is drawn at random from box B. Calculate the probability that a sphere
is drawn from box B.

Example 28
A bag has 12 colored discs, 7 green and 5 yellow. Two discs are drawn at random, one after the other, without
replacement. Find the probability that
a) a green disc and a yellow disc are drawn
b) the two discs drawn are either both green or both yellow
 Example 29
Cards that are written with the letters from the words INSTITUSI TINGGI are out into a bag. Three cards are
drawn at random from the bag, one after the other, without replacement. Calculate the probability that at least
two cards with the letter I are drawn.

Example 30
On a certain day, 3 babies were born at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Construct a tree diagram to show all the
possible outcome of the genders of the babies. Hence, find the probability that
a) 2 baby boys and 1 baby girl were born
b) at least one baby boy was born
 Example 31
Hisham, Yap and Rajan compete against each other in shooting a target. The probabilities that they strike the
target are 25 , 34 , 23 respectively. Calculate the probability that
a) all the three of them strike the target
b) only one of them strikes the target
c) at least one them strikes the target

Example 32
A bag consists of 4 yellow balls and 5 brown balls. A ball is drawn at random from the bag. Then the second
ball is drawn and it is also returned to the bag before the third ball is drawn. Each time a ball is drawn, its color
is recorded. Find the probability that
a) two brown balls are chosen after two draws
b) three brown balls are chosen after three draws
c) at least two balls from three draws are yellow
d) only one ball from the three draws is brown
 Example 33
A bag contains 4 red pens, 6 blue pens and 5 green pens. A pen is drawn at random and its color is recorded and
then it is returned to the bag before the second pen is drawn at random. The second pen is then returned to the
bag before the third pen is drawn. Find the probability that
a) all the three pens are blue
b) there are two blue pens followed by one red pen
c) the sequence of the pens drawn is red, green and blue
d) all the three pens have the same color

Example 34
A bag contains 4 blue beads, 3 red beads and 7 green beads. Two beads are drawn at random from the bag, one
after the other, without replacement. Find the probability that
a) both the beads are of the same color
b) both the beads are of different color

Example 35
A box contains 4 blue cards, 5 green cards and 6 red cards. If two cards are drawn at random, one after the other,
without replacement, find the probability that
a) a blue card and a green card are drawn
b) the two cards drawn are either both green or both red.