Department of Mathematics
Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, Ranchi
MA 301R1 - Probability and Statistics
Session: Monsoon 2025
Tutorial Problem - 1
Instructor: Dr. Ayan Chanda
1. An experiment consists of tossing a coin three times. What is the sample space
of this experiment? Which event corresponds to the experiment resulting in more
heads than tails?
2. Let A, B, C be events. Find expressions for the events that of A, B, C, when
(a) only A occurs,
(b) both A and C but not B occur,
(c) at least one of the events occurs,
(d) at least two of the events occur,
(e) all three occur,
(f) none of the events occurs,
(g) at most one of them occurs,
(h) at most two of them occur,
(i) exactly two of them occur,
(j) at most three of them occur.
3. Use Venn diagrams (or any other method) to show that
(a) AB ⊆ A, A ⊆ A ∪ B,
(b) If A ⊆ B, then B c ⊆ Ac ,
(c) A = AB ∪ AB c .
4. How many even four-digit numbers can be formed from the digits 0, 1, 2, 5, 6, and
9 if each digit can be used only once?
5. A committee of size 5 is to be selected from a group of 6 men and 9 women. If the
selection is made randomly, what is the probability that the committee consists of
3 men and 2 women?
6. How many different letter arrangements can be made from the letters in the word
STATISTICS ?
7. Show that if A ⊆ B, then P (A) ≤ P (B). (Hint: Express B as the union of two
mutually exclusive events, one of them being A.)
8. If P (A) = 0.9 and P (B) = 0.9, show that P (AB) ≥ 0.8. In general, prove Bonfer-
ronis inequality, namely that P (AB) ≥ P (A) + P (B) − 1.
9. Suppose that n independent trials, each of which results in any of the outcomes
0, 1 and 2, with respective probabilities 0.3, 0.5 and 0.2, are performed. Find the
probability that both outcome 1 and outcome 2 occur at least once.
10. If, in an experiment, the events A1 , A2 , ..., Ak can occur, then
P (A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ Ak ) = P (A1 )P (A2 |A1 )P (A3 |A1 ∩ A2 ) · · · P (Ak |A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ Ak−1 )
11. A group of 5 boys and 10 girls is lined up in random order – that is, each of the 15!
permutations is assumed to be equally likely.
(a) What is the probability that the person in the 4th position is a boy?
(b) What about the person in the 12th position?
(c) What is the probability that a particular boy is in the 3rd position?
12. You ask your neighbor to water a sickly plant while you are on vacation. Without
water, it will die with a probability 0.8; with water, it will die with a probability
0.15. You are 90% certain that your neighbour will remember to water the plant.
(a) What is the probability that the plant will be alive when you return?
(b) If it is dead, what is the probability that your neighbour forgot to water it?
13. A town has two fire engines operating indepen dently. The probability that a specific
engine is avail able when needed is 0.96.
(a) What is the probability that neither is available when needed?
(b) What is the probability that a fire engine is avail able when needed?
14. A pair of fair dice is rolled. Let A denote the event that the sum of the numbers on
the dice is equal to 7.
(a) Show that A is independent of the event that the first die lands on 4,
(b) Show that A is independent of the event that the second die lands on 3.
15. An engineering system consisting of n components is said to be a k-out-of-n system
(k ≤ n) if the system functions if and only if at least k of the n components func-
tion. Suppose that all components function independently of each other. If the i-th
component functions with probability pi , 1 ≤ i ≤ 4, compute the probability for a
2-out-of-4 system functions.
16. The probability that a regularly scheduled flight departs on time is 0.83; the proba-
bility that it arrives on time is 0.82; and the probability that it departs and arrives
on time is 0.78. Find the probability that a plane
(a) arrives on time, given that it departed on time,
(b) departed on time, given that it has arrived on time.
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17. A bin contains 5 defective (that immediately fail when put in use), 10 partially
defective (that fail after a couple of hours of use), and 25 acceptable transistors.
A transistor is chosen at random from the bin and put into use. If it does not
immediately fail, what is the probability it is acceptable?
18. Of three cards, one is painted red on both sides, one is painted black on both sides,
and one is painted red on one side and black on the other. A card is randomly
chosen and placed on a table. If the side facing up is red, what is the probability
that the other side is also red? (Hint: Use Baye’s Formula.)
19. It is estimated that 50% of emails are spam. A certain brand of filtering software
is applied to block spam before they reach your inbox. The software claims it can
detect 99% of spam emails, while the probability of a false positive (a non-spam
email incorrectly marked as spam) is 5%. If an email is detected as spam, what is
the probability that it is actually a non-spam email? (Hint: Use Baye’s Formula.)
20. A parallel system functions whenever at least one of its components works. Consider
a parallel system of n components, and suppose that each component independently
works with probability 1/2. Find the conditional probability that component 1
works, given that the system is functioning.
Best wishes
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