Lesson 1.
Basic Probability
1. (a) Consider rolling a six-sided die. Let A be the set of outcomes where the roll is
an even number. Let B be the set of outcomes where the roll is greater than 3.
Calculate and compare the sets on both sides of De Morgan’s law.
• (A ∪ B)c = Ac ∩ B c
• (A ∩ B)c = Ac ∪ B c
(b) Prove that: P (Ac ∩ B c ) = 1 − P (A) − P (B) + P (A ∩ B)
(c) Consider events A and B such that P (A) = 1/2, P (A ∪ B) = 3/4, P (B c ) = 5/8.
Find P (A ∩ B), P (Ac ∩ B c ), P (Ac ∪ B c ) and P (B ∩ Ac )?
2. A four-sided die is rolled repeatedly, until the first time (if ever) that an even number
is obtained. What is the sample space for this experiment?
3. We roll two fair 6-sided dice. Each one of the 36 possible outcomes is assumed to be
equally likely.
(a) Find the probability that doubles are rolled?
(b) Find the probability that at least one die roll is a 6?
(c) Given that the roll results in a sum of 4 or less, find the probability that doubles
are rolled?
4. A student is going to graduate from an industrial engineering department in a univer-
sity by the end of the semeter. After being interviewed at two companies he likes, he
assesses that his probability of getting an offer from the first company Ca is 0.8, and
the probability that he gets an offer from the second one Cb is 0.6. If, on the hand, he
believes that the probability that he will get offers from both companies is 0.5, what
is the probability that he will get at least one offer from these two companies?
5. Out of the students in a class, 60% are geniuses, 70% love chocolate, and 40% fall
into both categories. Determine the probability that a randomly selected student is
neither a genius nor a chocolate lover?
1
6. In a group of 25 boys, nine are members of the chess club (C), eight are members of
the debating club (D) and 10 are members of neither of these clubs. This information
25
C D 8
a c
b
10
is shown in the Venn diagram. 9
(a) Find the values of a, b and c.
(b) Find the probability that a randomly selected boy is:
• a member of the chess club or the debating club
• a member of exactly one of these clubs.
7. A baby rolls two dice. It is assumed that there are two fair 6-sided dice.
(a) Find the probability of getting a sum of 7?
(b) Then, calculate the probability of not getting a sum of 7 or 11?
8. Three friends, Rick, Brenda and Ali, go to a football match but forget to say which
entrance to the ground they will meet at. There are four entrances A, B, C and D.
Each friend chooses an entrance independently.
1
• The probability that Rick chooses entrance A is . The probabilities that he
3
chooses entrances B, C or D are all equal.
• Brenda is equally likely to choose any of the four entrances.
2
• The probability that Ali chooses entrance C is and the probability that he
7
3
chooses entrance D is . The probabilities that he chooses the other two entrances
5
are equal.
(a) Find the probability that at least 2 friends will choose entrance B.
(b) Find the probability that the three friends will all choose the same entrance.
