PROBABILITY

for IIT JEE (Odds in favor or against)

Probability holds an importance in IIT JEE papers from the very beginning. Every year
around two questions in Mains and around two to three questions in Advance have
been asked from this topic.
If we follow CBSE syllabus we study probability twice, once in class 11 and again in
class 12. In this blog we will try and discuss about the ways to prepare Probability for
IIT JEE be it mains or advance.
In class 11 the Probability that we study mostly deals with fundamentals of counting
and classical deMinition of probability. The classical deMinition states that Probability of
an event is the ratio of the number of cases favorable to it, to the number of all cases
possible. In this section we mostly Mind out probabilities using concepts of
Permutation and Combination. So to master this section we have to be soundly good at
Permutation and Combination.
The second section of Probability that we study in class 12th covers the concepts of
Conditional Probability, Total Probability and Bayes Theorem. We also study the
concepts of Random Variable, its probability distribution, the Mean and Variance of
probability distribution, Binomial Probability and its distribution. In this section focus
is little less towards counting and P&C rather the focus is towards above stated topics
and methods to Mind the probabilities.
To prepare Probability for IIT JEE we should focus towards identifying the random
experiment in the question. this will help us determine our Sample space, the event to
Mind out the number of favourable cases. It is also important to identify the question
types, whether it belongs to conditional probability or total probability or Bayes
Theorem or Binomial probability.
In questions of Conditional Probability we have to Mind out the probability of
occurrence of an event B when an event A has already occurred. Like for e.g. to Mind
probability of occurrence of a multiple of 3 on a throw of a fair dice if it already known
that an even number has turned up.
In total probability questions there will be two or more partitions of sample space and
we have to Mind the probability of occurrence of and event A associated with the sample
space. For e.g. there are two bags containing different numbers of red and blue balls
then probability of drawing a red ball out of a randomly selected bag.
In Bayes Theorem, also called reverse probability, the random experiment has already
taken place and the Minal result is also known, then we go back in the experiment to
Mind out the probability of occurrence of a particular event. like for e.g out of two bags,
bag I and bag II containing different number of red and blue balls. A ball was drawn at
random and found to be red so what is the probability that it was from bag II.
In Binomial probability the random experiment consists of n trials of a particular event.
The outcome of the event is either a sucess or a failure (to be decided as per the
question), then probability of getting r successes out of n. For e.g. a coin is tossed 10
times then probability of getting 4 heads.

To sum it up there should be few points we should always look for while preparing for
probability and while solving questions:
1. The random experiment of the question.
2. The event which we want to Mind the probability of.
3. The type of question i.e. whether it is of conditional probability or total probability
or bayes theorem.

Practice a lot of question because Mathematics is an athletic skill. The more you
practice, the more you can, the more you want to, the more you enjoy it, the less it tires
you.

-Akash Gautama