Below are three probability based questions to practice for Accenture papers.

Question 1 A box contains 4 blue and 5 white balls and another box contains 5 blue and 4 white balls. One ball is to be drawn from either of the a) 2/9 b) 1/9 c) 4/9 d) 1/2 Answer : d) 1/2 Solution : Probability of choosing Probability of choosing second box = 1/2 Imagine there is no first box = 1/2 and two boxes. What is the probability of drawing a blue ball?

second

box

at

all

P1 = Probability of choosing one blue ball from first box when there is no second box at all = No of ways of choosing 1 blue ball from among 4 blue balls / Total number of ways of choosing 1 ball from all 9 balls. = 4C1 / 9C1 Imagine there is no first box at all :

P2 = Probability of choosing one blue ball from second box when there is no first box at all = No of ways of choosing 1 blue ball from among 5 blue balls / Total number of ways of choosing 1 ball from all 9 balls. = 5C1 / 9C1 Now, consider our real scenario of having both the boxes :

P3 = Probability of choosing one blue ball from the first box = P1 x Probability of choosing first box = 4C 1 / 9C1 x 1 / 2 = 2/9 P4 = Similarly probability of choosing one blue ball from the second box = P2 x Probability of choosing second box = 5C1 / 9C1 x 1 / 2 = 5/18 P (E) = Probability of P3 + P4 = 2/9 + 5/18 = 1/2 --> eq 1 choosing a blue ball from either of the boxes =

Note : Since the question reads we have to choose one blue ball from first OR second box we have used '+' sign in eq 1. If the question were choosing one blue ball from first AND second box, we should had used multiplication i.e ' x '. Question 2 An urn contains 6 red, 4 blue, 2 green and 3 yellow marbles. If four marbles are picked at random, what is the probability that at least one is blue? a) 4/15 b) 69/91 c) 11/15 d) 22/91 Answer : b) 69/91 .

Solution : Total possible outcomes out of = 15 n(S) marbles

= Selection of 4 marbles = 15C4 = (15 x 14 x 13 x 12) divided by 1 x 2 x 3 x4 = 1365 When no marble is blue, favourable

number out of

of 11

cases

n(E) marbles

= Selection of 4 marbles = 11C4 = 11 x 10 x 9 x 8 divided by 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 = 330

Probability that atleast one ball is blue + Probability that no Therefore, Probability that atleast one ball is blue = 1 - Probability that no ball is blue Therefore, Probability that atleast one ball is blue =1

ball

is

blue

n(E)

n(S)

= 1 - 330/1365 = 1 - 22/91 = 69 /91 Question 3 A committee of 4 members is to be selected from a group of 4 women and 3 men. What is the probability that the committee has a) 1/35 b) 3/7 c) 34/35 d) 4/7 Answer : c) 34/35 Solution : Probability of there being all women in the committee = 4C 4 divided by 7C4 = 1/35 But, Probability of there being all women in the committee + Probability of there being at least one man = Probability of formation of a committee with Probability of there being at least one man = 1 - 1/35 = 34/35 no restriction of gender = 1 at least one man.?

1) Using two 2's and two 3's and using a maxm of three mathematical signs, symbols, can you have a result in between 14 and 15 ? concatanation ( clubbing of digits ) allowed.

Solution: ( 23 + 3! ) / 2 = 14.5 2) a) b) c) d) Solution: there there there what is the 28383rd term in the series 1234567891011121314............ 3 4 7 9

are are are

9 180 2700

no. no. no.

of of of

single double three

digit digit digit

now total 2889 no. till 999 remaining no. are 25494 that is devided by 4 and the q is 6373 with reminder of 2 so 28381 is 6373+999=737(2) n so next ans no is is 7(3)73 3

3) a*b*c*d*e + b*c*d*e*f + a*c*d*e*f + a*b*d*e*f + a*b*c*e*f + a*b*c*d*f = a*b*c*d*e*f and a,b,c,d,e and f are all positive nonrepeating integers then solve a,b,c,d,e, and f. Solution Start into 2,2 2,3,6 2,3,9,18 2,3,9,27,54 2,3,9,27,81,162 4) 729 ml of a mixture contains milk and water in ratio 7:2. How much of the water is to be added to get a new mixture containing half milk and half water? (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) 91 ml Solution: Milk Water = = (729 * (729-567)= (7/9))=567ml 162ml 79 81 72 ml ml ml with 2x/3 1/2 + + 1/2, x/3. then This progressively gives split the the last following : part x progression:

Let water to be added be x ml 567/(162+x) = 7/3 1701 = 1134 + 7x x = 81ml

Question 1 A leather box contains 8 black balls and 6 white balls. Two draws of three balls each are made, the balls being replaced after the first draw. What is the probability that the balls were black in the first draw and white in the second draw? a) 70/8281 b)140/20449 c ) 25/5445 d)35/5448 Answer : a)70/8281 Solution: Total Total No of number ways ways to of draw of balls drawing 3 black black white 3 balls = 8 + = black 6 14C3 balls = = = 8C3 = 14 364 56

balls, N(S) = N(E1) for

Probability of all balls being No of ways to draw 3

= P(E1) balls =

= N(E1) / N(S) N(E2) for white

= 56/ 364 = 14/91 balls = 6C3 = 20

Probability of all balls being white = P(E2) = 20 / 364 = 5/91 Probability of drawing 3 black balls in first draw and drawing 3 white balls in the second draw = P(E1) x P(E2) Therefore P(E) = 14/91 x 5/91 = 70 /8281 Question 2 Fourteen persons are sitting around a circular table facing the centre. What is the probability that three particular persons sit together? a) 2/9 b)1/13 c)2/13 d)1/26 Answer : d) 1/26 Solution : In a circle of n different persons, the total number n(S) total of arrangements = 12 possible 1)! (in = = 4 (n 13 1)!

Total Taking

number three

of arrangements persons as a

= unit,

= (14 persons

! units)

Therefore no. of ways for these 12 persons to around the circular table = (12 - 1)! = 11! In any given unit, 3 particular person can sit in 3!. Hence total number of ways that any three person can sit = n(E) = 11! X 3! Therefore P (E) = probability of three persons sitting together = n(E) / n(S) = 11! X 3 ! divided by 13! 3 x 2 divided by 13 x 12 = 1/26 Question 3

In how many different ways can the letter of the word ECHRONICLEE be arranged? a)1663200 b)8316000 c)3326400 d)4158000 Answer : c)3326400 Solution : ECHRONICLEE has 11 letters Total number of rearrangements = (Number of letters)! / (Number of 1st repetitive letter)! x (Number of 2nd repetitive letter)!.... In the word ECHRONICLEE, E occurs thrice. C occurs twice. Hence denominator of the above formula will become 3! x Therefore = 3326400 Total number of rearrangements = 11!/ 3! 2! 2!

Placement Question 1
If a shopkeeper accidentally sells a pen at double its actual selling price, his profit increases 4 fold. Then he realizes his mistake and sells other pens at their original selling price. Find his actual profit percentage. Answer 1 let the original selling price be sp and the cost price be cp. If he sells the pen at double the selling price, his new profit will be 2sp cp.

His actual profit should had been (sp - cp). But his accidental rising of the selling price resulted in a four fold increase of the original profit which is 4 X (sp - cp). Hence, 2sp cp = 4 X (sp cp)

Therefore sp = (3/2)cp. Actual profit percentage = (sp - cp)/cp % = 50%

Placement Question 2
Consider three brothers Ram, Ravi and Rahul. Consider Ram to be taller than Ravi by 10% and Rahul is taller than Ravi by 30%. Now, by how much percentage Rahul is taller than Ram. Answer 2 Let heights of Ram, Ravi and Rahul be p,q and r respectively. Then as per the conditions given in the question : p = 110/100r and q = 130/100r Ratios of heights of q and r will be (130/100r)/(110/100r) = 13/11. Hence Rahul will be 13/11% taller than that of Ram.

Placement Question 3
John swims in a river at an effective speed of 8 Kilometers/hr. The velocity of the stream against John is measured to be 2 Kilometers/hr. Now, how much his effective speed will increase when he swims in the direction of the stream. Answer 3 Since John opposes the stream speed to achieve an effective speed of 8 Km/hr, original physical speed of John would be 8 + 2 = 10 Kilometers/hr. In downstream, if he swims with his original speed his effective speed will become 10 + 2 = 12 Kilometers/hr. This is 4 Kilometers/hr more than that of the initial effective speed 8 Kilometers/hr. Hence his speed would increase by 4/8 % = 50%.

Interview Question 1
What is the difference between strcmp and strncmp functions in C ? Answer: strcmp function compares two given strings till their entire lengths. But strncmp compares only the specified n characters of the strings from the start.

Interview Question 2
Write a single statement that can interchange values of two variables without utilizing a third variable. Answer: Let us consider two variables a and b. Then one of the solutions is a = (a + b) - (b = a);

Interview Question 3
In C, arrays can be passed by reference. State True or False. Answer: Yes, it is true, arrays are passed by reference (Though individual or group of elements of the array can be passed by value/values as well.)

Interview Question 4
Name the function which takes two strings as arguments and copies the second string into the character array of the first string. After this the function returns the value of the first string. Answer: strcpy is the answer.