Shakil Shrestha. Problems and Answer in Probability: 1.

At a certain university in the United States, 62% of the students are at least bilingual-speaking English and at least one other language. Of these students, 80% speak Spanish and, of the 80% who speak Spanish, 10% also speak French. Determine the probability that a randomly selected student at this university a) Does not speak Spanish. b) Speaks Spanish and French.

Solution: a)

Percentage of students (Bilingual) = 62% = 0.62 Percentage of students (Not bilingual) = 38% = 0.38

Of the students who are (Bilingual), 80% Speak Spanish and 10% of 80% also Speak French. Then percentage of students who does not speak Spanish is 20%. So the number of students who does not speak Spanish = 0.62 * 0.20 + 0.38 = 0.504. b) Number of students who Speaks Spanish and French = 0.62 * 0.80 * 0.10 = 0.0496.

2. Explain what is wrong with the following argument: When two balanced dice is rolled, the sum of the dice can be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12, giving 11 possibilities. Therefore the 1 probability is 11 that the sum is 12. Solution: When two balanced dice is rolled, there are 36 possible equally likely outcomes.

(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6) (2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6) (3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6) (4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6) (5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6) (6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)
Hence the probability of getting a sum 12 =
1 1 and is not . 36 11

3. A king and queen have two children. Assuming that a child of the king and queen is equally likely to have a boy or a girl. What is the probability that both children are boys, given that a) The first child born is a boy. b) At least one child is a boy. Solutions: a) The sample space for this experiment is S = {, , , }

Hence P second is a boy | first born is a boy) = P (At least one child is a boy) =
1 3

1 2

4. Students are given three chances to pass a basic skills exam for permission in Calculus 1 class. 60% of the students pass on the first try; of those that fail on the first try, 54% pass on the second try; and of those remaining, 48% pass on the third try. a) What is the probability that a student passed on the second try? b) What is the probability that a student passes on the third try? c) What percentage of students pass? Solutions: First lets make a table for the given problems: 1st try 60% = 0.60 40% = 0.40 2nd try 0.40 * 0.54 = 0.216 0.40 * 0.46 = 0.184 3rd try 0.184 * 0.48 = 0.088

Pass Fail

a) P(student pass on 2nd try ) = 0.216 b) P(Student pass on 3rd try) = 0.088 c) P(Student pass ) = 0.60 + 0.216 + 0.088 = 0.904 = 90.4 %.