MA 202 TUTORIAL 1
SEMESTER II, AY 2019–2020
Notation: The symbol , is read “is defined to equal”. Throughout, we will work
on a fixed probability space (S, F , P ). Thus, the sample space S will denote the set
of all possible outcomes of some random experiment; F will be a collection S∞ of subsets
of S such that (i) S ∈ F , ∅ ∈ F , (ii) If A1 , A2 , . . . belong to F , then i=1 Ai ∈ F ,
and (iii) If A ∈ F , then Ac , S \ A ∈ F ; and P will be a probability measure, i.e.,
P : F → [0, 1] such that (i) P (∅) = 0, S (ii) WheneverP{An }∞ n=1 ⊂ F is a pairwise dis-
∞ ∞
joint sequence of sets in F , we have P ( n=1 An ) = n=1 P (An ), and (iii) P (S) = 1.
(1) Let A, B, C be events. Find expressions for the events that of A, B, C,
(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
(2) If P (A) = .9 and P (B) = .9, show that P (AB) > .8. In general, prove
Bonferroni’s inequality, namely that P (AB) > P (A) + P (B) − 1.
(3) In a single roll of two fair dice, what is the probability that the sum of the
numbers on the dice is 10?
(4) Suppose that 75% of all investors invest in traditional annuities and 45%
of them invest in the stock market. If 85% invest in at least one of the two,
what percentage invest in both?
(5) A number is selected at random from the set {1, 2, . . . , 1000}. What is the
probability that it is divisible by 3 but not by 5?
(6) Show that for events A, B, C, we have
P (A ∪ B ∪ C) = P (A) + P (B) + P (C)
− P (AB) − P (AC) − P (BC) + P (ABC).
(7) A fair die is tossed eight times. What is the probability of exactly two 3’s,
three 1’s, and three 6’s?
(8) How many distinct permutations are there for the letters in the word
“INSTITUTE”?
(9) A fair coin is tossed five times. What is the probability of getting at least
one Tail?
(10) From an ordinary deck of 52 cards, five are drawn randomly (without re-
placement). What is the probability of drawing exactly three face cards?
(11) Suppose we put five math, six biology, eight history, and three literature
books on a bookshelf at random. What is the probability that all the math
books are together? Assume that no two books are identical.
(12) Suppose that we have a sequence A1 , A2 , . . . of events (i.e., Ai ∈ F for all
i > 1).
T∞Establish the following:
(a) n=1 An ∈ F .
MA 202 TUTORIAL 1 SEMESTER II, AY 2019–2020
(b) Find a sequence {Bn }∞ n=1 of pairwise disjoint
Sn (mutually Sexclusive)
Sn ∞
events
S∞ such that for all n > 1, A
i=1 i = i=1 Bi and i=1 Ai =
B
i=1 i .
(13) Suppose that we have a sequence A1 , A2 , . . . of events
Sn (i.e., A Pi n∈ F for
all i > 1). Prove that for any n > 1, we S∞have P ( Pi=1 A i ) 6 i=1 P (Ai )
∞
(Boole’s inequality). Now show that P ( i=1 Ai ) 6 i=1 P (Ai ).
(14) Suppose that we have a sequence A1 , A2 , . . . of events (i.e., Ai ∈ F for all
i > 1). S∞ c T∞ T∞ c
(a) (DeMorgan’s
S∞ Laws) Show that ( n=1 An ) = n=1 Acn and ( n=1 An ) =
c
n=1 An . S∞ S∞
(b) Show that Tfor any subset BTof S, we have ( n=1 An )∩B = n=1 (An ∩
∞ ∞
B) and ( n=1 An ) ∪ B = n=1 (An ∪ B).
