JEEMAIN.

GURU
JEE-Mathematics

PROBABILITY
1 INTRODUCTION :
The theory of probability has been originated from the game of chance and gambling. In old days, gamblers used
to gamble in a gambling house with a die to win the amount fixed among themselves. They were always desirous
to get the prescribed number on the upper face of a die when it was thrown on a board. Shakuni of Mahabharat
was perhaps one of them. People started to study the subject of probability from the middle of seventeenth
century. The mathematicians Huygens, Pascal Fermat and Bernoulli contributed a lot to this branch of Mathematics.
A.N. Kolmogorow proposed the set theoretic model to the theory of probability.
Probability gives us a measure of likelihood that something will happen. However probability
can never predict the number of times that an occurrence actually happens . But being able to
quantify the likely occurrence of an event is important because most of the decisions that affect our daily lives
are based on likelihoods and not on absolute certainties.
2. DEFINITIONS :
(a) Experiment : An action or operation resulting in two or more well defined outcomes. e.g. tossing a coin,
throwing a die, drawing a card from a pack of well shuffled playing cards etc.
(b) Sample space : A set S that consists of all possible outcomes of a random experiment is called a sample
space and each outcome is called a sample point. Often, there will be more than one sample space that
can describe outcomes of an experiment, but there is usually only one that will provide the most information.
e.g. in an experiment of "throwing a die", following sample spaces are possible :
(i) {even number, odd number}
(ii) {a number less than 3, a number equal to 3, a number greater than 3}
(iii) {1,2,3,4,5,6}
Here 3rd sample space is the one which provides most information.
If a sample space has a finite number of points it is called finite sample space and if it has an infinite
number of points, it is called infinite sample space. e.g. (i) "in a toss of coin" either a head (H) or tail (T)
comes up, therefore sample space of this experiment is S = {H,T} which is a finite sample space. (ii)
"Selecting a number from the set of natural numbers", sample space of this experiment is
S = {1,2,3,4,......} which is an infinite sample space.
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

(c) E v e n t : An event is defined as an occurrence or situation, for example

(i) in a toss of a coin, it shows head,
(ii) scoring a six on the throw of a die,
(iii) winning the first prize in a raffle,
(iv) being dealt a hand of four cards which are all clubs.
In every case it is set of some or all possible outcomes of the experiment. Therefore event (A) is subset
of sample space (S). If outcome of an experiment is an element of A we say that event A has occurred.
 An event consisting of a single point of S is called a simple or elementary event.
  is called impossible event and S (sample space) is called sure event.

Note : Probability of occurrence of an event A is denoted by P(A).

(d) Compound Event : If an event has more than one sample points it is called Compound Event. If A &
B are two given events then AB is called compound event and is denoted by AB or AB or A & B.
E 35
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
(e) Complement of an event : The set of all outcomes which are in S but not in A is called the complement
of the event A & denoted by A , Ac, A' or ‘not A’.

(f) Mutually Exclusive Events : Two events are said to be Mutually Exclusive (or disjoint or incompatible)
if the occurrence of one precludes (rules out) the simultaneous occurrence of the other. If A & B are two
mutually exclusive events then P (A  B) = 0.

Consider, for example, choosing numbers at random from the set {3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12}

If, Event A is the selection of a prime number,

Event B is the selection of an odd number,

Event C is the selection of an even number,

then A and C are mutually exclusive as none of the numbers in this set is both prime and even. But A and
B are not mutually exclusive as some numbers are both prime and odd (viz. 3, 5, 7, 11).

(g) Equally Likely Events : Events are said to be Equally Likely when each event is as likely to occur as
any other event. Note that the term 'at random' or 'randomly' means that all possibilities are equally likely.

(h) Exhaustive Events : Events A,B,C........ N are said to be Exhaustive Events if no event outside this
set can result as an outcome of an experiment. For example, if A & B are two events defined on a
sample space S and A & B are exhaustive  A  B = S  P (A  B) = 1.

Note : Playing cards : A pack of playing cards consists of 52 cards of 4 suits, 13 in each, as shown in figure.

Clubs Spades Diamonds Hearts

Face Cards
or Court Cards

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

Ace

Black coloured Red coloured

Cards Cards
36
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Comparative study of Equally likely, Mutually Exclusive and Exhaustive events :
Experiment Events E/L M/E Exhaustive
1. Throwing of a die A: throwing an odd face {1, 3, 5} No Yes No
B : throwing a composite {4,6}
2. A ball is drawn from E1 : getting a White ball
an urn containing 2White, E2 : getting a Red ball No Yes Yes
3Red and 4Green balls E3 : getting a Green ball
3. Throwing a pair of A : throwing a doublet
dice {11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66}
B : throwing a total of 10 or more Yes No No
{ 46, 64, 55, 56, 65, 66 }
4. From a well shuffled E1 : getting a heart
pack of cards a card is E2 : getting a spade Yes Yes Yes
drawn E3 : getting a diamond
E4 : getting a club
5. From a well shuffled A = getting a heart
pack of cards a card is B = getting a face card No No No
drawn

Illustration 1 : A coin is tossed. If it shows head, we draw a ball from a bag consisting of 3 blue and 4 white balls;
if it shows tail we throw a die. Describe the sample space of this experiment.
Solution : Let us denote blue balls by B1, B2, B3 and the white balls by W1, W2, W3, W4. Then a sample space
of the experiment is
S = {HB1, HB2, HB3, HW1, HW2, HW3, HW4, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6}.
Here HBi means head on the coin and ball Bi is drawn, HWi means head on the coin and ball Wi is
drawn. Similarly, Ti means tail on the coin and the number i on the die.
Illustration 2 : Consider the experiment in which a coin is tossed repeatedly until a head comes up. Describe the
sample space.
Solution : In the experiment head may come up on the first toss, or the 2nd toss, or the 3rd toss and so on.
Hence, the desired sample space is S = {H, TH, TTH, TTTH, TTTTH,...}
Illustration 3 : A coin is tossed three times, consider the following events.
A : 'no head appears'
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

B : 'exactly one head appears'

C : 'at least two heads appear'
Do they form a set of mutually exclusive and exhaustive events ?
Solution : The sample space of the experiment is
S = {HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT}
Events A, B and C are given by
A = {TTT}
B = {HTT, THT, TTH}
C = {HHT, HTH, THH, HHH}
Now,
A  B  C = {TTT, HTT,THT,TTH,HHT,HTH,THH,HHH} = S
Therefore A,B and C are exhaustive events. Also, A  B = , A  C =  and B  C = .
Therefore, the events are pair-wise disjoint, i.e., they are mutually exclusive. Hence, A,B and C
form a set of mutually exclusive and exhaustive events.
E 37
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Do yourself - 1 :
(i) Two balls are drawn from a bag containing 2 Red and 3 Black balls, write sample space of this experiment.
(ii) Out of 2 men and 3 women a team of two persons is to be formed such that there is exactly one man
and one woman. Write the sample space of this experiment.
(i i i ) A coin in tossed and if head comes up, a die is thrown. But if tail comes up, the coin is tossed again. Write
the sample space of this experiment.
(iv) In a toss of a die, consider following events :
A : An even number turns up.
B : A prime number turns up.
These events are -
(A) Equally likely events (B) Mutually exclusive events
(C) Exhaustive events (D) None of these

3. CLASSICAL DEFINITION OF PROBABILITY :

If n represents the total number of equally likely, mutually exclusive and exhaustive outcomes of an experiment
and m of them are favourable to the happening of the event A, then the probability of happening of the event
A is given by P(A) = m/n. There are (n–m) outcomes which are favorable to the event that A does not happen.

'The event A does not happen' is denoted by A (and is read as 'not A')

n m m
Thus P(A )  1
n n

i.e. P (A )  1  P (A )
Note :
(i) 0  P(A)  1

(ii) P(A) + P( A ) = 1, Where A = Not A ; This relationship is most useful in the 'at least one' type of
problems.
x
(iii) If x cases are favourable to A & y cases are favourable to A then P(A) = and
(x  y)
y
P( A ) = . We say that Odds In Favour Of A are x: y & Odds Against A are y : x
(x  y)

Note :

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
OTHER DEFINITIONS OF PROBABILITY :
(a) Axiomatic probability : Axiomatic approach is another way of describing probability of an event. In
this approach some axioms or rules are depicted to assign probabilities.
Let S be the sample space of a random experiment. The probability P is a real valued function whose
domain is the power set of S and range is the interval [0, 1] satisfying the following axioms :
(i) For any event E, P(E)  0 (ii) P(S) = 1
(iii) If E and F are mutually exclusive events, then P(E  F) = P(E) + P(F).
It follows from (iii) that P(E  F) = P() = 0.
Let S be a sample space containing outcomes 1, 2,....., n, i.e., S = {1,2,......n}
It follows from the axiomatic definition of probability that :
(i) 0  P(i) 1 for each i S
(ii) P(1)  P(2) +......+ P(n) = 1
(iii) For any event A, P(A) = P(i) i  A.

38
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
(b) Empirical probability : The probability that you would hit the bull's-eye on a dartboard with one throw
of a dart would depend on how much you had practised, how much natural talent for playing darts you
had, how tired you were, how good a dart you were using etc. all of which are impossible to quantify. A
method which can be adopted in the example given above is to throw the dart several times (each throw
is a trial) and count the number of times you hit the bull's-eye (a success) and the number of times you miss
(a failure). Then an empirical value of the probability that you hit the bull's-eye with any one throw is
number of successes
.
number of successes + number of failures
If the number of throws is small, this does not give a particular good estimate but for a large number of
throws the result is more reliable.
When the probability of the occurrence of an event A cannot be worked out exactly, an empirical value
can be found by adopting the approach described above, that is :
(i) making a large number of trials (i.e. set up an experiment in which the event may, or may not,
occur and note the outcome),
(ii) counting the number of times the event does occur, i.e. the number of successes,
number of successes r
(iii) calculating the value of 
number of trials (i.e. successes + failures) n

r
The probability of event A occurring is defined as P(A )  lim  
n   n 

n    means that the number of trials is large (but what should be taken as 'large' depends on the
problem).

Illustration 4 : A coin is tossed successively three times. Find the probability of getting exactly one head or two heads.
Solution : Let S be the sample space and E be the event of getting exactly one head or exactly two heads,
then
S = {HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, TTH, THT, HTT, TTT}.
and E = {HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH}
 n(E) = 6 and n(S) = 8.
n(E ) 6 3
Now required probability, P(E) =   .
n(S ) 8 4

Illustration 5 : Words are formed with the letters of the word PEACE. Find the probability that 2 E’s come together.

5!
Solution : Total number of words which can be formed with the letters P, E, A, C, E   60
2!
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

24 2
Number of words in which 2 E’s come together  4 !  24  reqd. prob. 
 Ans.
60 5
Illustration 6 : A bag contains 5 red and 4 green balls. Four balls are drawn at random, then find the probability
that two balls are of red and two balls are of green colour.
Solution : n(s) = the total number of ways of drawing 4 balls out of total 9 balls : 9C4
A : Drawing 2 red and 2 green balls ; n(A) = 5C2 × 4C2

5 4 4 3
n A  5
C2  4 C2 2 2 10
 P(A) =  = = Ans.
n s  9
C4 9 8 76 21
4 3 2

Illustration 7 : If the letters of INTERMEDIATE are arranged, then the odds in favour of the event that no two 'E's
occur together, are -
6 5 2
(A) (B) (C) (D) none of these
5 6 9
E 39
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Solution :   2, N  1, T  2, E  3, R  1, M  1, D  1,A  1 (3'E's, Rest 9 letters)

9!
First arrange rest of the letters = ,
2! 2!

9!
Now 3'E's can be placed by
10
C3 ways, so favourable cases =  10 C 3  3  10!
2! 2!

12! 11  11 
Total cases = =  10 ! ; Non-favourable cases =   3   10 ! = 5  10 !
2! 2! 3! 2  2  2

3 6
Odds in favour of the event = = Ans. (A)
5/2 5
Illustration 8 : From a group of 10 persons consisting of 5 lawyers, 3 doctors and 2 engineers, four persons are
selected at random. The probability that the selection contains at least one of each category is-

1 1 2
(A) (B) (C) (D) none of these
2 3 3
10
Solution : n(S) = C4 = 210.
5 3 2 5 3 2 5 3 2
n(E) = C2 × C1 × C1 + C1 × C2 × C1 + C1 × C1 × C2 = 105

105 1
 P(E) =  . Ans. (A)
210 2
Illustration 9 : If four cards are drawn at random from a pack of fifty-two playing cards, find the probability that
at least one of them is an ace.
Solution : If A is a combination of four cards containing at least one ace (i.e. either one ace, or two aces, or
three aces or four aces) then A is a combination of four cards containing no aces.

Number of combinations of four cards with no aces 48

Now P(A )  = C 4 / 52C 4 = 0.72
Total number of combinations of four cards

Using P (A )  P(A )  1 we have P (A )  1  P (A )  1  0.72  0.28

Illustration 10 : If n positive integers taken at random are multiplied together, show that the probability that the
5n  4n
last digit of the product is 5 is and that the probability of the last digit being 0 is
10 n

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
10 n  8 n  5 n  4 n
.
10 n
Solution : Let n positive integers be x1, x2,..., xn. Let a=x1.x2....xn.
Let S be the sample space, since the last digit in each of the numbers, x1, x2,..., xn can be any
one of the digits 0, 1, 2, 3,...,9 (total 10)
 n(S) = 10n
Let E1 and E2 be the events when the last digit in a is 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 and 1, 3, 7 or 9
respectively
 n(E1) = 5n and n(E2) = 4n
and let E be the event that the last digit in a is 5.
n(E) = n(E1)–n(E2) =5n – 4n
n E  5n  4n
Hence required probability P(E) = =
n S 10 n

40
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Second part : Let E3 and E4 be the events when the last digit in a is 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 or 9 and
0 respectively.
Then n(E4) = n (S) – n(E3) – n(E) =10n – 8n – (5n–4n) = 10n–8n–5n+4n

n E 4  10 n  8 n  5 n  4 n
 Required probability P(E4) = = Ans.
n S  10 n
Illustration 11 : A bag contains n white and n red balls. Pairs of balls are drawn without replacement until the
bag is empty. Show that the probability that each pair consists of one white and one red ball is
2 n/( 2nC n).
Solution : Let S be the sample space & E be the event that each of the n pairs of balls drawn consists of
one white and one red ball.
 n(S) = (2nC2) (2n–2C2) (2n–4C2)...(4C 2)( 2C2)

 2n  2n  1    2n  2  2n  3    2n  4  2n  5  

=
 1.2

 1.2
 
  1.2    
 ......
4.3
1.2
2.1
1.2

1.2.3.4....(2n  1)2n 2n !
= n = n
2 2
and n(E) = (nC1.nC 1) ( n–1C1.n–1C1) ( n–2C 1.n–2C1)...(2C 1. 2C 1) (1C1.1C1)
= n2.(n–1) 2.(n–2) 2....2 2.1 2 = [1.2.3.....(n–1)n] 2 = (n!) 2

2
n E   n ! 2n 2n
 Required Probability, P(E) = = =  2n Ans.
n S 2n  !/ 2 n
2n ! Cn
 n !2

Illustration 12 : Three vertices out of six vertices of a regular hexagon are chosen randomly.
E D
The probability of getting a equilateral triangle after joining three vertices is -
(A) 1/5 (B) 1/20 F C

(C) 1/10 (D) 1/2 A B

Solution : 6
The total no. of cases = C3 = 20
As shown in the figure only two triangles ACE and BDF are equilateral. So number of
favourable cases is 2.

2 1
Hence the required probability =  Ans. (C)
20 10
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

Do yourself - 2 :
(i) Find the probability of scoring a total of more than 7, when two dice are thrown.
(ii) A card is drawn randomly from a well shuffled pack of 52 playing cards and following events are defined:
A : The drawn card is a face card.
B : The drawn card is a spade.
Find odds in favour of A and odds against B.
(i i i ) Two natural numbers are selected at random, find the probability that their sum is divisible by 10.
(iv) Five card are drawn successively from a pack of 52 cards with replacement. Find the probability that
there is at least one Ace.

4. VENN DIAGRAMS :
A diagram used to illustrate relationships between sets. Commonly, a rectangle represents the universal set and a
circle within it represents a given set (all members of the given set are represented by points within the circle). A
subset is represented by a circle within a circle and intersection is indicated by overlapping circles.

E 41
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Let S is the sample space of an experiment and A, B are two events corresponding to it :

A B A B A B= AB or A\B or A B

S S S S

A B A B A B

C
B-A, B\A A',A or A (A B)' (A B)' (A B)
S S S S S
B
A
A B

Remaining pairs
44 46
33 55
Example : Let us now conduct an experiment of tossing a pair of dice.
A B B  A 64
Two events defined on the experiment are
22 66 65
A : getting a doublet {11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66}
11 56
B : getting total score of 10 or more {64, 46, 55, 56, 65, 66} A B A B

5. ADDITION THEOREM : U
A  B = A + B = A or B denotes occurrence of at least A or B.
For 2 events A & B : A B A B B A

P(AB) = P(A) + P(B) – P(AB)

A B
Note :
(a) P (A  B )  P(A) + P(B) – P(A  B) (This is known as generallised addition theorem)

P (A  B )  P(A) + P (B  A )
P (A or B )  P (B)  P(A  B)
 
P (o ccu re n ce o f a tle a st A o r B )  P (A  B )  P(A  B )  P (B  A )
 1 – P(AC  BC)

 1 – P(A  B)C
C
(b) P(A\B) = P(A –B) = P(A  B ) = P(A) – P(A  B)
(c) Opposite of "atleast A or B" is neither A nor B

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
i.e. A  B = 1– (A or B) = A  B

Note that P(AB) + P( A  B ) = 1.

(d) If A & B are mutually exclusive then P(AB) = P(A) + P(B).
(e) For any two events A & B, P(exactly one of A, B occurs)
   
= P A  B  P B  A = P (A )  P (B )  2P (A  B )


= P A  B   P A  B  = P A c  Bc  P A c  Bc   
(f)  A  B   B  A    A  B    A  B 
(g) De Morgan's Law : If A & B are two subsets of a universal set U, then
(i) (A B)c = Ac Bc & (ii) (A B)c = Ac Bc
C C
(h) A  B  C   A C  BC  CC & A  B  C   A C  BC  CC
(i) A  (B C) = (A B)  (A C) & A  (B C) = (A B)  (A C)

42
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Illustration 13 : Given two events A and B. If odds against A are as 2 : 1 and those in favour of A  B are
as 3 : 1, then find the range of P(B).
Solution : Clearly P(A) = 1/3, P(A  B) = 3/4.
Now, P(B) < P(A  B)
 P(B) < 3/4
Also, P(B) = P(A  B) – P(A) + P(A  B)
 P(B) > P(A  B) – P(A) ( P(A  B) > 0)
 P(B) > 3/4 – 1/3
5
 P(B) >
12
5 3
  P(B )  Ans.
12 4
3 1 c 2
Illustration 14 : If A and B are two events such that P(A  B) = , P(A  B) = and P(A ) = . Then find -
4 4 3
c c
(i) P(A) (ii) P(B) (iii) P(A B ) (iv) P(A  B)
c 2 1
Solution : P(A) = 1 – P(A ) = 1  
3 3
3 1 1 2
P(B) = P(A  B) + P(A  B) – P(A) =   
4 4 3 3
c 1 1 1
P(A  B ) = P(A) – P(A  B)   
3 4 12
c 2 1 5
P(A  B) = P(B) – P(A  B) =  = Ans.
3 4 12
Illustration 15 : Three numbers are chosen at random without replacement from 1, 2, 3,.......,10. The probability
that the minimum of the chosen numbers is 4 or their maximum is 8, is -
11 3 1
(A) (B) (C) (D) none of these
40 10 40
6
C2
Solution : The probability of 4 being the minimum number = 10
C3
(because, after selecting 4 any two can be selected from 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).
7
C2
The probability of 8 being the maximum number = 10 .
C3
3
The probability of 4 being the minimum number and 8 being the maximum number = 10
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

C3
 the required probability = P(A  B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A  B)
6 7
C2 C2 3 11
= 10
 10
 10
 . Ans. (A)
C3 C3 C3 40

Do yourself - 3 :
(i) Draw Venn diagram of (a) (A C  B C)  (A  B) (b) B C  (A C  B)
(ii) If A and B are two mutually exclusive events, then-
(A) P (A )  P (B ) (B) P (A  B )  P (A )  P (B ) (C) P(A  B )  0 (D) P (A  B )  P(B )
(i i i ) A bag contains 6 white, 5 black and 4 red balls. Find the probability of getting either a white or
a black ball in a single draw.
(iv) In a class of 125 students, 70 passed in English, 55 in mathematics and 30 in both. Find the probability
that a student selected at random from the class has passed in (a) at least one subject (b) only one
subject.

E 43
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
6. CONDITIONAL PROBA BILIT Y AND MULTIPLICATION THEOREM :
Let A and B be two events such that P (A) >0. Then P(B|A) denote the conditional probability of B given that A
has occurred. Since A is known to have occurred, it becomes the new sample space replacing the original S.
From this we led to the definition.

P A  B
P(B|A) =
P A 

which is called conditional probability of B given A

 P  A  B   P  A  P (B|A) which is called compound probability or multiplication theorem. It says the

probability that both A and B occur is equal to the probability that A occur times the probability that B occurs
given that A has occurred.

Note : For any three events A1, A2, A3 we have P  A 1  A 2  A 3  = P(A1) P(A2|A 1) P  A 3 |  A 1  A 2  

Illustration 16 : Two dice are thrown. Find the probability that the numbers appeared have a sum of 8 if it is known
that the second die always exhibits 4
Solution : Let A be the event of occurrence of 4 always on the second die

 1, 4  ,  2, 4  ,  3, 4  ,  4, 4  ,  5, 4  ,  6, 4  ;  n A   6

and B be the event of occurrence of such numbers on both dice whose sum is 8 = {(6,2), (5,3),
(4,4), (3,5), (2,6)}.

Thus, A  B  A   4, 4    4, 4 

 n A  B   1

n(A  B) 1 P(A  B) 1 / 36 1
 P B / A    or  
n(A ) 6 P(A ) 6 / 36 6

Illustration 17 : A bag contains 3 red, 6 white and 7 blue balls. Two balls are drawn one by one. What is the
probability that first ball is white and second ball is blue when first drawn ball is not replaced in the
bag?
Solution : Let A be the event of drawing first ball white and B be the event of drawing second ball blue.
Here A and B are dependent events.

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
6 7
P A   , P  B| A  
16 15

6 7 7
P  AB   P  A  .P  B| A    
16 15 40

Illustration 18 : A bag contains 4 red and 4 blue balls. Four balls are drawn one by one from the bag, then find the
probability that the drawn balls are in alternate colour.
Solution : E1 : Event that first drawn ball is red, second is blue and so on.
E2 : Event that first drawn ball is blue, second is red and so on.

4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3
 P E1      and P  E 2     
8 7 6 5 8 7 6 5

4 4 3 3 6
P E   P E1   P E 2   2  . . .  Ans.
8 7 6 5 35

44
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Illustration 19 : If two events A and B are such that P  A   0.3 , P(B) = 0.4 and P  AB   0.5 then P  B| (A  B) 
equals -
(A) 1/2 (B) 1/3 (C) 1/4 (D) 1/5

P  B  (A  B )  P B  A    B  B 
Solution : We have P  B| (A  B)  = =
P A  B  P  A   P B   P  A  B 

P  AB  P  A   P  AB  0.7  0.5 0.2 1

=     = = = = Ans. (C)
 
P A  P B  P AB    
P A  P B – P AB   0.7  0.6  0.5 0.8 4

Do yourself - 4 :
(i) A bag contains 2 black, 4 white and 3 red balls. One ball is drawn at random from the bag and kept
aside. From the remaining balls another ball is drawn and kept aside the first. This process is repeated
till all the balls are drawn. Then probability that the balls drawn are in sequence of 2 black, 4 white and
3 red is-

1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) (D) None of these
1260 7560 210
(ii) Three cards are drawn successively, without replacement from a pack of 52 well shuffled cards. What
is the probability that the drawn cards are face cards of same suit ?

7. INDEPENDENT EVENTS :
Two events A & B are said to be independent if occurrence or non occurrence of one does not affect the
probability of the occurrence or non occurrence of other.
(a) If the occurrence of one event affects the probability of the occurrence of the other event then the events
are said to be Dependent or Contingent. For two independent events A and B :
P(AB) = P(A) . P(B). Often this is taken as the definition of independent events.
(b) Three events A, B & C are independent if & only if all the following conditions hold ;
P(A B) = P(A) . P(B) ; P(B  C) = P(B). P(C)
P(C A) = P(C) . P(A) & P(A B C) = P(A) . P(B) . P(C)
i.e. they must be pairwise as well as mutually independent.
Similarly for n events A1, A2, A3,...... An to be independent, the number of these conditions is equal to
n
C2 + nC3 +..... + nCn = 2n  n  1.
Note : Independent events are not in general mutually exclusive & vice versa.
Mutually exclusiveness can be used when the events are taken from the same experiment & independence
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

can be used when the events are taken from different experiments.

Illustration 20 : The probability that an anti aircraft gun can hit an enemy plane at the first, second and third shot
are 0.6, 0.7 and 0.1 respectively. The probability that the gun hits the plane is
(A) 0.108 (B) 0.892 (C) 0.14 (D) none of these
Solution : Let the events of hitting the enemy plane at the first, second and third shot are respectively A, B

and C. Then as given P  A   0.6, P  B   0.7, P  C   0.1


Since P  A  B  C   1  P A  B  C  and events A,B,C are independent

       
 P A B C  P A P B P C

Required probability = P(A  B  C) = 1  P A P B P C      

= 1 – (1 – 0.6) (1 – 0.7) (1 – 0.1) = 1 – (0.4) (0.3) (0.9) = 1 – 0.108 = 0.892 Ans. (B)
E 45
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Illustration 21 : A lot contains 50 defective and 50 non-defective bulbs. Two bulbs are drawn at random, one at
a time, with replacement. The events A, B, C are defined as : [IIT 1992]
A = {The first bulb is defective}
B = {The second bulb is non-defective}
C = {The two bulbs are both defective or both non-defective}
Determine whether
(i) A, B, C are pairwise independent, (ii) A, B, C are independent.

50 1 50 1 50 50 50 50 1
Solution : We have P(A) = .1  ; P (B)  1.  ; P (C )  .  . 
100 2 100 2 100 100 100 100 2
A  B is the event that first bulb is defective and second is non-defective.

1 1 1
 P(A  B) = . 
2 2 4
A  C is the event that both bulbs are defective.

1 1 1
 P(A  C) = . 
2 2 4

1
Similarly P(B  C) =
4
Thus we have P(A  B) = P(A) . P(B) ; P(A  C) = P(A) . P(C) ; P(B  C) = P(B) . P(C)
 A, B and C are pairwise independent.
There is no element in A  B  C
 P(A  B  C) = 0
 P(A  B  C)  P(A) . P(B) . P(C)
Hence A, B and C are not mutually independent.

Do yourself - 5 :
(i) For two independent events A and B, the probability that both A & B occur is 1/8 and the probability
that neither of them occur is 3/8. The probability of occurrence of A may be -
(A) 1/2 (B) 1/4 (C) 1/8 (D) 3/4
(ii) A die marked with numbers 1,2,2,3,3,3 is rolled three times. Find the probability of occurrence of 1,2
and 3 respectively.
(i i i ) If A and B are two independent events, then prove that the following events are also independent -

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
(a) A' and B (b) A and B' (c) A' and B'

8. TOTAL PROBA BILIT Y THEOREM :

Let an event A occurs with one of the n mutually exclusive & exhaustive events B1,B2,B3,........Bn
then A = AB1 + AB2 + AB3 +....... + ABn

n
P(A) = P(AB1) + P(AB2) +.......+ P(ABn) =  P (AB ) i
i 1

P(A) = P(B1) P(A|B1) + P(B2) P(A|B2) + ............ + P(Bn) P(A|Bn) = P(Bi) P(A|Bi)

Illustration 22 : A purse contains 4 copper and 3 silver coins and another purse contains 6 copper and 2 silver coins.
One coin is drawn from any one of these two purses. The probability that it is a copper coin is -

4 3 2 37
(A) (B) (C) (D)
7 4 7 56

46
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Solution : Let A  event of selecting first purse
B  event of selecting second purse
C  event of drawing a copper coin
Then given event has two disjoint cases: AC and BC
 P(C)  P  AC  BC   P  AC   P  BC   P  A  P  C| A   P  B  P  C| B 

1 4 1 6 37
 .  .  Ans. (D)
2 7 2 8 56
Illustration 23 : Three groups A, B, C are contesting for positions on the Board of Directors of a Company. The
probabilities of their winning are 0.5, 0.3, 0.2 respectively. If the group A wins, the probability of
introducing a new product is 0.7 and the corresponding probabilities for group B and C are 0.6
and 0.5 respectively. Find the probability that the new product will be introduced.
Solution : Given P(A) = 0.5, P(B) = 0.3 and P(C) = 0.2
 P(A) + P(B) + P(C) =1
then events A, B, C are exhaustive.
If P(E) = Probability of introducing a new product, then as given
P(E|A) = 0.7, P(E|B) =0.6 and P(E|C) = 0.5
 P(E) = P(A). P(E|A) + P(B). P(E|B) + P(C). P(E|C)
= 0.5 × 0.7 + 0.3 × 0.6 + 0.2 × 0.5 = 0.35 + 0.18 + 0.10 = 0.63
I l l u s t r a t i o n 2 4 : A pair of dice is rolled together till a sum of either 5 or 7 is obtained. Find the probability that
5 comes before 7.
Solution : Let E 1 = the event of getting 5 in a roll of two dice = {(1, 4), (2, 3), (3, 2), (4, 1)}

n(E 1 ) 4 1
 P(E 1 )   
n(S ) 6 6 9

Let E 2 = the event of getting either 5 or 7

= {(1, 4), (2, 3), (3, 2), (4, 1), (1, 6), (2, 5), (3, 4), (4, 3), (5, 2), (6, 1)}
n(E 2 ) 10 5
 P(E 2 )   
n(S ) 6  6 18
5 13
 the probability of getting neither 5 nor 7  P (E 2 )  1  P (E 2 )  1  
18 18
The event of getting 5 before 7 = E 1  (E 2 E 1 )  (E 2 E 2 E 1 )  ...... to 
 the probability of getting 5 before 7
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

= P(E 1 )  P(E 2 E 1 )  P(E 2 E 2 E 1 )  .... to  = P(E 1 )  P(E 2 )P(E 1 )  P(E 2 )P(E 2 )P(E 1 )  .... to 

2
1 13 1 13 13 1 1  13  13   1 1 1 18 2
  .  . .  ....... to   1      ....... to   .  . 
9 18 9 18 18 9 9  18  18   9 1  13 9 5 5
18

Do yourself - 6 :

(i) An urn contains 6 white & 4 black balls. A die is rolled and the number of balls equal to the number

obtained on the die are drawn from the urn. Find the probability that the balls drawn are all black.

(ii) There are n bags such that ith bag (1  i  n) contains i black and 2 white balls. Two balls are drawn from

a randomly selected bag out of given n bags. Find the probability that the both drawn balls are white.

E 47
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
9. PROBABILITY OF THREE EVENTS : A U
B
For any three events A,B and C we have
A B  C AB C B  A C
(a) P(A or B or C) = P(A) + P(B) + P(C)  P(A  B)
A B C
 P(B C)  P(C A) + P(A B C)
(b) P(at least two of A,B,C occur)
A C  B C B A
= P(B C) + P(C A) + P(A B)  2P(A B C)
A B  C
(c) P(exactly two of A,B,C occur) C A B
C
= P(B C) + P(C A) + P(A B)  3P(A B C)
(d) P(exactly one of A,B,C occurs)
= P(A)+ P(B) + P(C)  2P(B C)  2P(C A)  2P(A B) + 3P(A B  C)
Note : If three events A, B and C are pair wise mutually exclusive then they must be mutually exclusive.
i.e P(A B) = P(B C) = P(C A) = 0  P(A B C) = 0. However the converse of this is not true.
Illustration 25 : Let A,B,C be three events. If the probability of occurring exactly one event out of A and B is 1 –
a, out of B and C is 1 – 2a, out of C and A is 1 – a and that of occurring three events simultaneously
is a2, then prove that the probability that at least one out of A,B,C will occur is greater than 1/2.
Solution : P(A) + P(B) – 2P(A  B) = 1 – a .....(1)
and P(B) + P(C) – 2P(B  C) = 1 – 2a .....(2)
and P(C) + P(A) – 2P(C  A) = 1 – a .....(3)
and P(A B  C) = a2 .....(4)
 P(A  B  C) = P(A) + P(B) + P(C) – P(A  B) – P(B C) – P(C  A) + P(A  B C)

1
 P(A )  P(B )  2P(A  B )  P(B )  P(C )  2P(B  C )  P(C )  P(A )  2P(C  A )  P(A  B  C )
2

1
= {1 – a + 1 – 2a + 1 – a} + a2 {from (1), (2), (3) & (4)}
2
3 1 1
  2a  a 2 = (a – 1)2 + > Ans.
2 2 2
Do yourself - 7 :

(i) In a class, there are 100 students out of which 45 study mathematics, 48 study physics, 40 study

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
chemistry, 12 study both mathematics & physics, 11 study both physics & chemistry, 15 study both
mathematics & chemistry and 5 study all three subjects. A student is selected at random, then find the
probability that the selected student studies
(a) only one subject (b) neither physics nor chemistry

10. BINOMIAL PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION :

Suppose that we have an experiment such as tossing a coin or die repeatedly or choosing a marble from an urn
repeatedly. Each toss or selection is called a trial. In any single trial there will be a probability associated with a
particular event such as head on the coin, 4 on the die, or selection of a red marble. In some cases this
probability will not change from one trial to the next (as in tossing a coin or die). Such trials are then said to be
independent and are often called Bernoulli trials after James Bernoulli who investigated them at the end of the
seventeenth century.
Let p be the probability that an event will happen in any single Bernoulli trial (called the probability of success).
Then q = 1 – p is the probability that the event will fail to happen in any single trial (called the probability of
failure). The probability that the event will happen exactly x times in n trials (i.e., x successes and n – x failures
will occur) is given by the probability function.

48
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

 n  x n x n!
ƒ (x) = P(X = x) =   p q  p x q n x ......... (i)
x
  x !(n  x)!

where the random variable X denotes the number of successes in n trials and x = 0, 1,........., n.
Example : The probability of getting exactly 2 heads in 6 tosses of a fair coin is

2 6 2 2 6 2
6  1   1  6!     1  15
P(X  2)             
2  2   2  2 !4 !  2   2  64

The discrete probability function (i) is often called the binomial distribution since for x = 0, 1, 2,...,n, it corresponds
to successive terms in the binomial expansion
n
n  n  n 
(q  p) n  q n    q n 1 p    q n 2 p 2  .....  p n     p x q n  x
1  2  x 0  x 

The special case of a binomial distribution with n = 1 is also called the Bernoulli distribution.

Illustration 26 : If a fair coin is tossed 10 times, find the probability of getting

(i) exactly six heads (ii) atleast six heads (iii) atmost six heads
Solution : The repeated tosses of a coin are Bernoulli trials. Let X denotes the number of heads in an
experiment of 10 trials.

1
Clearly, X has the binomial distribution with n = 10 and p 
2

Therefore P(X  x)  n C x q n  x p x , x  0,1,2,...., n

1 1
Here n  10, p  , q 1 p 
2 2
10  x x 10
1  1  1 
Therefore P (X  x )  10 C x   10
   Cx  
2  2  2 

10
1  10 ! 105
Now (i) P(X  6)  10 C 6    10

2  6 !  4 !2 512

(ii) P(atleast six heads) = P(X  6) = P(X = 6) + P(X = 7) + P(X = 8) + P(X = 9) + P(X = 10)
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

10 10 10 10 10
1  1  1  1  1 
 10 C 6    10 C 7    10 C 8    10 C 9    10 C 10  
2  2  2  2  2 

 10!   10 !   10 !   10 !   10!   1 193

=  6 !  4 !    7!  3 !    8 !  2!    9 ! 1!    10!   10  512
         2

(iii) P(at most six heads) = P(X  6)

= P(X = 0) + P(X = 1) + P(X = 2) + P(X = 3) + P(X = 4) + P(X = 5) + P(X = 6)

10 10 10 10 10 10 10
1  10 1  10 1  10 1  10 1  10 1  10 1 
=    C1    C2    C3    C4    C5    C6  
2  2 2  2  2 2  2 

848 53
= 
1024 64

E 49
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Illustration 27 : India and Pakistan play a 5 match test series of hockey, the probability that India wins at least three
matches is -
1 3 4 5
(A) (B) (C) (D)
2 5 5 16
5 5 5 5
1  1  1  1  1
Solution : India win atleast three matches = C 3    5 C 4    5 C 5   =   (16 ) 
5
Ans. (A)
2  2  2  2
  2
Illustration 28 : A coin is tossed 7 times. Each time a man calls head. The probability that he wins the toss on more
than three occasions is -

1 5 1
(A) (B) (C) (D) none of these
4 8 2
Solution : The man has to win at least 4 times.
 the required probability
4 3 5 2 6 7
7 1  1  1  1  1  1 1 
= C 4       7C 5       7C 6     7C 7  
2  2  2  2  2  2 2

7 7 7 7 1 64 1
= ( C4 + C5 + C6 + C7) 7
 7
 . Ans. (C)
2 2 2
Illustration 29 : A man takes a step forward with probability 0.4 and backward with probability 0.6. Find the
probability that at the end of eleven steps he is one step away from the starting point.
Solution : Since the man is one step away from starting point mean that either
(i) man has taken 6 steps forward and 5 steps backward.
(ii) man has taken 5 steps forward and 6 steps backward.
Taking, movement 1 step forward as success and 1 step backward as failure.
 p = Probability of success = 0.4
and q = Probability of failure = 0.6
 Required Probability = P {X = 6 or X = 5} = P (X = 6) + P(X = 5) = 11C6p6q5+ 11C5p5q6

11
11.10.9.8.7
= C5(p6q5 + p5q6) = {(0.4)6 (0.6)5 + (0.4)5 (0.6)6}
1.2.3.4.5

11.10.9.8.7
= (0.24) 5
1.2.3.4.5
Hence the required probability = 0.37

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
Do yourself - 8 :

(i) An experiment succeeds twice as often as it fails. Find the probability that in next 6 trials, there will be

more than 3 successes.

(ii) Find the probability of getting 4 exactly thrice in 7 throws of a die.

11. BAYE'S THEOREM :

If an event A can occur only with one of the n mutually exclusive and exhaustive events B1, B2,.... Bn & the
probabilities P(A/B1), P(A/B2)....... P(A/Bn) are known then,

P (B i ).P  A / B i 
P (Bi/A) = n
 P (B i ).P  A / B i 
i 1

50
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Explanation :
Bn–1
A  event what we have ; Bi  event what we want & B3
remaining are alternative events. B2
B1
A
Now, P(ABi ) = P(A). P(Bi/A) = P(Bi ). P(A/Bi) Bn

P (B i ) . P  A / B i  P (B i ) . P  A / B i 
P B i / A   = n
P (A )
 P (AB i )
i 1

P (B i ) . P  A / B i 
P B i / A   n
 P (B i ) . P  A / B i 
i 1

Illustration 30 : Given three identical boxes I, II and III, each containing two coins. In box I, both coins are gold
coins, in box II, both are silver coins and in the box III, there is one gold and one silver coin. A
person chooses a box at random and takes out a coin. If the coin is of gold, what is the probability
that the other coin in the box is also of gold ?
Solution : Let E1, E2 and E3 be the events that boxes I, II and III are chosen, respectively.

1
Then P(E 1 )  P(E 2 )  P(E 3 ) 
3
Also, let A be the event that 'the coin drawn is of gold'

2
Then P(A|E1) = P(a gold coin from box I) = = 1
2
P(A|E2) = P(a gold coin from box II) = 0

1
P(A|E3) = P(a gold coin from box III) =
2
Now, the probability that the other coin in the box is of gold
= the probability that gold coin is drawn from the box I.
= P(E 1|A)
By Baye's theorem, we know that

1
P(E 1 )P(A | E 1 ) 1
P(E 1 | A )  3 2
= 
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

P(E 1 )P(A | E 1 )  P(E 2 )P(A | E 2 )  P(E 3 )P(A | E 3 ) 1 1 1 1 3

1   0  
3 3 3 2

Illustration 31 : In a factory which manufactures bolts, machines A, B and C manufacture respectively 25%, 35%
and 40% of the bolts. Of their outputs, 5, 4 and 2 percent are respectively defective bolts. A bolt
is drawn at random from the product and is found to be defective. What is the probability that it is
manufactured by the machine B ?
Solution : Let events B1, B2, B3 be the following :
B1 : the bolt is manufactured by machine A
B2 : the bolt is manufactured by machine B
B3 : the bolt is manufactured by machine C
Clearly, B 1 , B 2 , B 3 are mutually exclusive and exhaustive events and hence, they represent
a partition of the sample space.
Let the event E be ' the bolt is defective'.
E 51
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
The event E occurs with B1 or with B2 or with B3.
Given that P(B1) = 25% = 0.25, P(B2) = 0.35 and P(B3) = 0.40
Again P(E|B 1) = Probability that the bolt drawn is defective given that it is manufactured by
machine A = 5% = 0.05.
Similarly, P(E|B 2) = 0.04, P(E|B 3) = 0.02.
Hence, by Baye's Theorem, we have

P(B 2 )P(E| B 2 )
P(B 2 | E ) 
P(B 1 )P(E| B 1 )  P(B 2 )P(E| B 2 )  P(B 3 )P(E| B 3 )

0.35  0.04 0.0140 28

=  
0.25  0.05  0.35  0.04  0.40  0.02 0.0345 69
Illustration 32 : A bag A contains 2 white and 3 red balls and a bag B contains 4 white and 5 red balls. One
ball is drawn at random from one of the bags and it is found to be red. Find the probability that
it was drawn from the bag B.
Solution : Let E 1 = The event of ball being drawn from bag A
E 2 = The event of ball being drawn from bag B.
E = The event of ball being red.
Since, both the bags are equally likely to be selected, therefore
1 3 5
P E1   P E 2   and P  E| E 1   and P  E| E 2  
2 5 9

1 5
P  E 2  P(E| E 2 ) 
2 9 25
 Required probability P  E 2 | E    
P  E 1  .P(E| E 1 )  P  E 2  P(E| E 2 ) 1 3 1 5 52
  
2 5 2 9
Illustration 33 : In a test an examinee either guesses or copies or knows the answer to a multiple choice question
1
with four choices. The probability that he makes a guess is and the probability that he copies
3
1 1
the answer is . The probability that his answer is correct given that he copied it, is . Find the
6 8
probability that he knew the answer to the question given that he correctly answered it.
[IIT 1991]
Solution : Let A1 be the event that the examinee guesses that answer; A2 the event that he copies the answer
and A 3 the event that he knows the answer. Also let A be the event that he answers correctly.
Then as given, we have

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
1 1 1 1 1
P(A 1) = , P(A 2) = , P(A 3) = 1 –  
3 6 3 6 2
[We have assumed here that the events A1, A2 and A3 are mutually exclusive and totally exhaustive.]

1 1
Now P(A/A 1) = , P(A / A 2 )  (as given)
4 8
Again it is reasonable to take the probability of answering correctly given that he knows the answer
as 1, that is, P(A/A 3) = 1
We have to find P(A 3/A).

P(A 3 )P(A / A 3 )
By Baye's theorem, we have P(A 3 /A) =
P(A 1 )P(A / A 1 )  P(A 2 )P(A / A 2 )  (A 3 )P(A / A 3 )

(1 / 2).1 24
 
(1 / 3)(1 / 4)  (1 / 6)(1 / 8)  (1 / 2).1 29

52
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Do yourself - 9 :
(i) A pack of cards was found to contain only 51 cards. If first 13 cards, which are examined, are all red,
then find the probability that the missing cards is black.
(ii) A man has 3 coins A, B & C. A is fair coin. B is biased such that the probability of occurring head on it
is 2/3. C is also biased with the probability of occurring head as 1/3. If one coin is selected and tossed
three times, giving two heads and one tail, find the probability that the chosen coin was A.

12. PROBA BILIT Y THROUGH STATISTICAL (STOCHATIC) TREE DIAGR A M :

These tree diagrams are generally drawn by economist and give a simple approach to solve a problem.

Illustration 34 : A bag initially contains 1 red ball and 2 blue balls. A trial consists of selecting a ball at random, noting
its colour and replacing it together with an additional ball of the same colour. Given that three trials
are made, draw a tree diagram illustrating the various probabilities. Hence, or otherwise, find the
probability that
(a) atleast one blue ball is drawn
(b) exactly one blue ball is drawn
(c) Given that all three balls drawn are of the same colour find the probability that they are all red.

3/5 R
R– 3R 2B 2
1/2 /5
B
R– 2R 2B
3 1/
2 2/5 R
1/ B– 2R 3B 3
1R /5
B
Solution : Start
2/ 2/5 R
2B 3 R– 2R 3B 3
1/4 /5
B
B– 1R 3B
3/
4 1/5 R
B– 1R 4B 4
/5
B

Calculations :

1 1 3 1 9
P (A )  1  P(RRR )  1  . .  1  
3 2 5 10 10

1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 3 1
P(exactly one Blue) = . .  . .  . .     
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

3 2 5 3 2 5 3 4 5 15 15 15 15 5

1 1 3 1
. .
 RRR  P(RRR ) 3 2 5 1
P C   P      10 
 (RRR  BBB )  P(RRR )  P(BBB ) 1 1 3 2 3 4 1 4 5
. .  . . 
3 2 5 3 4 5 10 10

Do yourself - 10 :

(i) Three coins are tossed. Two of them are fair and one is biased so that a head is three times as likely as
a tail. Find the probability of getting two heads and a tail.

(ii) In a multiple choice test of three questions there are five alternative answers given to the first two
questions each and four alternative answers given to the last question. If a candidate guesses answers at
random, what is the probability that he will get-

(a) Exactly one right ? (b) At least one right ?

E 53
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
13. COINCIDENCE TESTIMONY :
If p1 and p2 are the probabilities of speaking the truth of two independent witnesses A and B then

p1 p 2
P (their combined statement is true) = p p  (1  p ) (1  p ) .
1 2 1 2

In this case it has been assumed that we have no knowledge of the event except the statement made by A and B.
However if p is the probability of the happening of the event before their statement then

p p1 p 2
P (their combined statement is true) = .
p p1 p 2  (1  p) (1  p1 ) (1  p 2 )

Here it has been assumed that the statement given by all the independent witnesses can be given in two ways
only, so that if all the witnesses tell falsehoods they agree in telling the same falsehood.
If this is not the case and c is the chance of their coincidence testimony then the
probability that the statement is true = p p1 p2
probability that the statement is false = (1p).c (1p1)(1p2)
However chance of coincidence testimony is taken only if the joint statement is not contradicted by any witness.

Illustration 35 : A speaks truth in 75% cases and B in 80% cases. What is the probability that they contradict
each other in stating the same fact?
(A) 7/20 (B) 13/20 (C) 3/20 (D) 1/5

Solution : There are two mutually exclusive cases in which they contradict each other i.e. AB and AB .
Hence required probability = P  AB  AB   P  AB   P  AB 

3 1 1 4 7
= P  A  P B   P  A  P B  = . + . = Ans. (A)
4 5 4 5 20

14. PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION (Not in JEE) :

(a) A Probability Distribution spells out how a total probability of 1 is distributed over several values of a
random variable.
(b) Mean of any probability distribution of a random variable is given by :

 pi xi 
  p i x i ( Since  p = 1 )
 pi
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
i

(c) Variance of a random variable is given by, ² =  ( xi  µ)². pi

² =  pi x²i  µ² (Note that Standard Deviation (SD) =  2 )

(d) The probability distribution for a binomial variate ‘X’ is given by ; P (X= r)= n C r p r q nr where :
p = probability of success in a single trial, q = probability of failure in a single trial and p + q = 1. The

P (r  1) n  r p
recurrence formula  . , is very helpful for quickly computing P(1), P(2). P(3) etc. if P(0) is
P (r) r 1 q
known.
(e) Mean of Binomial Probability Distribution (BPD) = np ; variance of BPD = npq.
(f) If p represents a person chance of success in any venture and ‘M’ the sum of money which he will receive
in case of success, then his expectations or probable value = pM

Expectations = pM

54
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
15. GEOMETRICAL PROBABILITY :
The following statements are axiomatic :
(a) If a point is taken at random on a given straight line AB, the chance that it falls on a particular segment
PQ of the line is PQ/AB.
(b) If a point is taken at random on the area S which includes an area  the chance that the point falls on 
is /S.
16. IMPORTAINT POINTS :
(a) If A 1  A 2 then P(A1)  P(A2) and P(A2– A1) = P(A2) – P(A1)

(b) If A  A 1  A 2  ....  An where A1, A2....An are mutually exclusive events then
P(A) = P(A1) + P(A2) +...P(An)
(c) Let A & B are two events corresponding to sample space S then P(S/A) = P(A/A) =1
(d) Let A and B are two events corresponding to sample space S and F is any other event s.t.
P(F)  0 then P   A  B  / F  = P(A/F) + P(B/F) – P   A  B  / F 
(e) P(A'/B) = 1 – P(A/B)
(f) P(A  B)  P(A), P(B)  P(A  B)  P(A) + P(B)

Illustration 36 : If two points are selected at random on the circumference of a circle, find the probability that their
distance apart is less than the radius of the circle.
Solution : Let one of the selected points be A, which has been selected as A
shown in the figure. Now, for the selection of second point, the
Q P
point must lie on the thick arc QAP, since OPA and OQA are 60° 60°
equilateral triangle with side r.
O
2
r
 Probability of selecting the second point  3 1
2 r 3

Illustration 37 : A wire of length  is cut into three pieces. Find the probability that the three pieces form a triangle.
Solution : Let the lengths of three parts of the wire be x,y and  –(x + y), then x > 0, y > 0,  – (x + y) > 0
i.e. x + y < 
Since in a triangle, the sum of any two sides is greater than third side, so

x + y >  – (x + y)  x + y >
2
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65


x +  – (x + y) > y  y <
2

y +  – (x + y) > x  x < 
2
  
 Favourable cases : x + y > ; y < ;x<
2 2 2 /2
& Total cases : x + y < ; x > 0 ; y > 0
Favourable Area 2 / 8 1
P(E )   2 
Total Area  /2 4 O /2 

Do yourself - 11 :
(i) A point is selected at random inside a circle. The probability that the point is closer to the center of the
circle than to its circumference is -
1 1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
4 2 3 2
E 55
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Miscellaneous Illustrations :

Illustration 38 : Three persons A, B, C in order cut a pack of cards, replacing them after each cut, on the condition
that the first who cuts a spade shall win a prize; find their respective chances. [REE 1992]

Solution : Let p be the chance of cutting a spade and q the chance of not cutting a spade from a pack of 52
cards.

13 1 3
C1 1
Then p   and q = 1 – 
52
C1 4 4 4

Now A will win a prize if he cuts spade at 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th turns, etc. Note that A will get a
second chance if A, B, C all fail to cut a spade once and then A cuts a spade at the 4th turn.
Similarly he will cut a spade at the 7th turn when A, B, C fail to cut spade twice, etc.

1
p 4 16
Hence A's chance of winning the prize = p + q3p + q6p + q9p + ...... = 3
 3

1q 3 37
1  
4

3 16 12
Similarly B's chance = (qp + q4p + q7p + ........) = q(p + q3p + q6p + ..........) = . 
4 37 37

3 3 12 9
and C's chance = of B's chance = . 
4 4 37 37
Illustration 39 : (a) If p and q are chosen randomly from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}, with replacement,
determine the probability that the roots of the equation x2 + px + q = 0 are real.

[IIT 1997]

(b) Each coefficient in the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0 is determined by throwing an ordinary die.
Find the probability that the equation will have equal roots. [REE 1998]

Solution : (a) If roots of x2 + px + q = 0 are real, then p2 – 4q  0 ......... (i)

Both p, q belongs to set S = {1, 2, 3, ....... 10} when p = 1, no value of q from S will
satisfy (i)

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
p = 2 q = 1 will satisfy 1 value

p = 3 q = 1, 2 2 value

p = 4 q = 1, 2, 3, 4 4 value

p = 5 q = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 6 value

p = 6 q = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 9 value

For p = 7, 8, 9, 10 all the ten values of q will satisfy.

Sum of these selections is 1 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 9 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 62

But the total number of selections of p and q without any order is 10 × 10 = 100

62
Hence the required probability is =  0.62
100
56
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
(b) Roots equal  b 2 – 4ac = 0

2
b
    ac ...... (i)
2 

Each coefficient is an integer, so we consider the following cases :

1
b = 1   ac
4

No integral values of a and c

b = 2 1 = ac  (1, 1)

b = 3 9/2 = ac

No integral values of a and c

b = 4 4 = ac  (1, 4), (2, 2), (4, 1)

b = 5 25/2 = ac

No integral values of a and c

b = 6 9 = ac  (3, 3)

Thus we have 5 favourable way for b = 2, 4, 6

Total number of equations is 6.6.6 = 216

5
 Required probability is
216

Illustration 40 : A set A has n elements. A subset P of A is selected at random. Returning the element of P, the
set Q is formed again and then a subset Q is selected from it. Find the probability that P and Q
have no common elements. [IIT 1990]
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

Solution : The set P be the empty set, or one element set or two elements set ....... or n elements set. Then
the set Q will be chosen from amongst the remaining n elements or n – 1 elements or n – 2 elements
....... or no elements. The probability of P being an empty set is nC0/2n, the probability of P being
one element set is nC 1/2 n and in general, the probability of P being an r element set is nC r/2 n.

When the set P consisting of r elements is chosen from A, then the probability of choosing the set
Q from amongst the remaining n – r elements is 2n – r/2n. Hence the probability that P and Q have
no common elements is given by

n n
C r 2 n r 1 n
1 
n
3
n
 2 n
. n  n
2 4
 n C r .2 n r = n
  (1  2)    [By binomial theorem]
r 0 r 0 4  4

E 57
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
Illustration 41 : The probabilities of three events A, B and C are P(A) = 0.6, P(B) = 0.4 and P(C) = 0.5.
If P(A  B) = 0.8, P(A  C) = 0.3, P(A  B  C) = 0.2 and P(A  B  C)  0.85,
find P(B  C). [REE 1996]

Solution : P(A  B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A  B)

0.8 = 0.6 + 0.4 – P(A  B)

 P(A  B) = 0.2

Now P(A  B  C) = S 1 – S 2 + S 3 = (0.6 + 0.4 + 0.5) – (0.2 + P(B  C) + 0.3) + 0.2

= 1.5 – 0.3 – P(B  C)

We know 0.85  P(A  B  C)  1

or 0.85  1.2 – P(B  C)  1

 0.2  P(B  C)  0.35

ANSWERS FOR DO YOURSELF

1 : (i) {B1R1, B2R1, B3R1, B1R2, B2R2, B3R2} (ii) {M1W 1, M2W1, M1W 2, M2W2, M1W3,M 2W3}
(i i i ) {H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, TH,TT} (iv) A

(13) 5  (12) 5
2 : (i) 5/ 12 (ii) 3:10, 3 : 1 (i i i ) 1/ 10 (iv)
(13) 5

3 : (i) (a) (b) (ii) A,B,D (i i i ) 11/15

A B A B

19 13
( i v ) (a) (b)
25 25

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
4 : (i) A (ii) 1/5525
5 : (i) A, B (ii) 1/ 36

1
6 : (i) 2/ 21 (ii)
n 2
7 : (i) (a) 0.72 (b) 0.23

3 4
496 7
1  5 
8 : (i) (ii) C3    
729 6  6 

9 : (i) 2/ 3 (ii) 9/ 25

7 2 13
10 : ( i ) (ii) (a) (b)
16 5 25
11 : ( i ) A

58
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 01 CHECK YOUR GRASP

SELECT THE CORRECT ALTERNATIVE (ONLY ONE CORRECT ANSWER)
1. A quadratic equation is chosen from the set of all quadratic equations which are unchanged by squaring their
roots. The chance that the chosen equation has equal roots is -
(A) 1/2 (B) 1/3 (C) 1/4 (D) 2/3
2. 5 persons entered the lift cabin on the ground floor of an 8 floor building. Suppose that each of them independently
and with equal probability, can leave the cabin at any other floor, starting from the first. The probability that
all 5 persons leave at different floors is -

5 8 8
5  C5 5! C5 5 !
(A)   (B) 5 (C) 5 (D)
8  8 8 85

3 If the integers m and n are chosen at random between 1 and 100, then the probability that a number of the
form 7m + 7n is divisible by 5 equals - [JEE 99]

1 1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
4 7 8 49

4. There are ten prizes, five A's, three B's and two C's, placed in identical sealed envelopes for the top ten
contestants in a mathematics contest. The prizes are awarded by allowing winners to select an envelope at
random from those remaining. When the 8th contestant goes to select the prize, the probability that the remaining
three prizes are one A, one B and one C, is -
(A) 1/4 (B) 1/3 (C) 1/12 (D) 1/10

5. A & B are two independent events such that P(A )  0.7, P(B)  a & P(A  B)  0.8 , then a =

(A) 5/7 (B) 2/7 (C) 1 (D) none

6. A determinant is chosen at random from the set of all determinant of order 2 with elements 0 or 1 only. The
probability that the determinant chosen has the value non negative is -
(A) 3/16 (B) 6/16 (C) 10/16 (D) 13/16
7. A license plate is 3 letters (of English alphabets) followed by 3 digits. If all possible license plates are equally
likely, the probability that a plate has either a letter palindrome or a digit palindrome (or both), is -

7 9 8
(A) (B) (C) (D) none
52 65 65
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

8. Two cubes have their faces painted either red or blue. The first cube has five red faces and one blue face. When
the two cubes are rolled simultaneously, the probability that the two top faces show the same colour is 1/2.
Number of red faces on the second cube, is -
(A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4
9. A is one of the 6 horses entered for a race and is to be ridden by one of two jockeys B or C. It is 2 to 1 that B
rides A, in which case all the horses are equally likely to win, if C rides A, his chance is trebled, Then the odds
against his winning are -

5 18 13 13
(A) (B) (C) (D)
13 5 18 5

10. Lot A consists of 3G and 2D articles. Lot B consists of 4G and 1D article. A new lot C is formed by taking 3
articles from A and 2 from B. The probability that an article chosen at random from C is defective, is -
(A) 1/3 (B) 2/5 (C) 8/25 (D) none

E 59
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
11. 'A' and 'B' each have a bag that contains one ball of each of the colours blue, green, orange, red and violet. 'A'
randomly selects one ball from his bag and puts it into B's bag. 'B' then randomly selects one ball from his bag
and puts it into A's bag. The probability that after this process the contents of the two bags are the same, is -
(A) 1/2 (B) 1/3 (C) 1/5 (D) 1/6
12. A bowl has 6 red marbles and 3 green marbles. The probability that a blind folded person will draw a red marble
on the second draw from the bowl without replacing the marble from the first draw, is -
(A) 2/3 (B) 1/4 (C) 5/12 (D) 5/8
13. Two cards are drawn from a well shuffled pack of 52 playing cards one by one. If
A : the event that the second card drawn is an ace and
B : the event that the first card drawn is an ace card.
then which of the following is true ?
4 1 1 1
(A) P(A) = ; P(B) = (B) P(A) = ; P(B) =
17 13 13 13
1 1 16 4
(C) P(A) = ; P(B) = (D) P(A) = ; P(B) =
13 17 221 51
14. An Urn contains 'm' white and 'n' black balls. All the balls except for one ball, are drawn from it. The probability
that the last ball remaining in the Urn is white, is -

m n 1 mn
(A) (B) (C) (D)
m n m n (m  n)! (m  n)!

15. Three numbers are chosen at random without replacement from {1, 2, 3,....., 10}. The probability that the
minimum of the chosen numbers is 3 or their maximum is 7 is -
(A) 1/2 (B) 1/3 (C) 1/4 (D) 11/40
16. If atleast one child in a family with 3 children is a boy then the probability that 2 of the children are boys, is -

3 4 1 3
(A) (B) (C) (D)
7 7 3 8

17. 7 persons are stopped on the road at random and asked about their birthdays. If the probability that 3 of them

K
are born on Wednesday, 2 on Thursday and the remaining 2 on Sunday is , then K is equal to -
76

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
(A) 15 (B) 30 (C) 105 (D) 210
18. A box has four dice in it. Three of them are fair dice but the fourth one has the number five on all of its faces.
A die is chosen at random from the box and is rolled three times and shows up the face five on all the three
occasions. The chance that the die chosen was a rigged die, is -

216 215 216

(A) (B) (C) (D) none
217 219 219

19. Mr. Dupont is a professional wine taster. When given a French wine, he will identify it with probability 0.9
correctly as French and will mistake it for a Californian wine with probability 0.1. When given a Californian wine,
he will identify it with probability 0.8 correctly as Californian and will mistake it for a French wine with probability
0.2. Suppose that Mr. Dupont is given ten unlabelled glasses of wine, three with French and seven with Californian
wines. He randomly picks a glass, tries the wine and solemnly says : "French". The probability that the wine he
tasted was Californian, is nearly equal to -
(A) 0.14 (B) 0.24 (C) 0.34 (D) 0.44

60
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
SELECT THE CORRECT ALTERNATIVES (ONE OR MORE THAN ONE CORRECT ANSWERS)
20. For two events A & B, which of the following is/are correct -
(A) (A  B)  B = B (B) (A  B) C  BC = (A  B)C
(C) AC  (A  B)  BC =  (D) (A C  B)  (A  B) = B
21. From a pack of 52 playing cards, face cards and tens are removed and kept aside then a card is drawn at
random from the remaining cards. If
A : The event that the card drawn is an ace
H : The event that the card drawn is a heart
S : The event that the card drawn is a spade
then which of the following holds ?
(A) 9P(A) = 4P(H) (B) P(S) = 4P(A  H) (C) 4P(H) = 3P(A  S) (D) P(H) = 9P(A  S)
22. Before a race the chance of three runners A, B & C were estimated to be proportional to 5, 3 & 2 respectively
but during the race A meets with an accident which reduces his chance to 1/3. If the respective chances of B
and C are P(B) and P(C) then -

2 4 2 4
(A) P(B) = (B) P(C) = (C) P(C) = (D) P(B) =
5 15 5 15

23. If E & F are events with P ( E)  P (F) & P  E  F  > 0 , then - [JEE 98]

(A) occurrence of E  occurrence of F . (B) occurrence of F  occurrence of E

(C) non – occurrence of E  non – occurrence of F (D) none of the above implications holds.

1 1
24. If A and B are two independent events such that P(A) = and P(B) = , then -
2 5

3 1
(A) P  A  B   (B) P  A / B  
5 2

5
(C) P  A / A  B   (D) P  A  B / A ' B '   0
6
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

CHE CK Y OU R G R ASP ANSWER KEY EXERCISE-01

Que. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ans. A D A A B D A C D C
Que. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Ans. B A B A D A B C C A, B, C
Que. 21 22 23 24
Ans. A ,C , D A,B D A,B, C,D
E 61
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 02 BRAIN TEASERS

SELECT THE CORRECT ALTERNATIVES (ONE OR MORE THAN ONE CORRECT ANSWERS)
1. If two of the 64 squares are chosen at random on a chess board, the probability that they have a side in common
is -
(A) 1/9 (B) 1/18 (C) 2/7 (D) none of these
2. Let 0 < P (A) < 1, 0 < P (B) < 1 and P (A  B) = P (A) + P (B)  P (A) P (B). Then -

B
(A) P   = P (B) – P (A) (B) P (AC  BC) = P (AC) + P (BC)
A

A
(C) P((A  B)C) = P (AC) P (BC) (D) P   = P (A)
B
3. 15 coupons are numbered 1,2,3,.........,15 respectively. 7 coupons are selected at random one at a time with
replacement. The probability that the largest number appearing on a selected coupon is 9 is -
6 7 7
 9   8   3 97  87
(A)   (B)   (C)   (D)
 16   15   5 15 7
4. A child throws 2 fair dice. If the numbers showing are unequal, he adds them together to get his final score. On
the other hand, if the numbers showing are equal, he throws 2 more dice & adds all 4 numbers showing to get
his final score. The probability that his final score is 6 is -
145 146 147 148
(A) (B) (C) (D)
1296 1296 1296 1296
5. If E1 and E2 are two events such that P(E1)=1/4, P(E2/E1)=1/2 and P(E1/E2) = 1/4 then -
(A) E1 and E2 are independent
(B) E1 and E2 are exhaustive
(C) E2 is twice as likely to occur as E1
(D) probabilities of the events E1  E2, E1 and E2 are in G.P..
6. Two numbers a and b are selected from the set of natural number then the probability that a2 + b2 is divisible by
5 is -
9 7 11 17
(A) (B) (C) (D)
25 18 36 81

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
7. If a, b and c are three numbers (not necessarily different) chosen randomly and with replacement from the set
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, the probability that (ab + c) is even, is -
50 59 64 75
(A) (B) (C) (D)
125 125 125 125
8. For any two events A & B in a sample space :

A P (A )  P (B)  1
(A) P    , P(B)  0 is always true
B P (B)

 
(B) P A  B = P (A) – P (A  B)

(C) P (A  B) = 1 – P  A  P  B  , if A & B are independent

C C

(D) P (A  B) = 1 – P  A  P  B  , if A & B are disjoint

C C

62
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
1
9. In a horse race there are 18 horses numbered from 1 to 18. The probability that horse 1 would win is , horse
6
1 1
2 is and 3 is . Assuming a tie is impossible, the chance that one of the three horses wins the race, is -
10 8

143 119 47 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
420 120 120 5
10. The probability that a radar will detect an object in one cycle is p. The probability that the object will be detected
in n cycles is -
(A) 1–pn (B) 1–(1–p)n (C) pn (D) p(1 – p)n–1

11. Two real numbers, x & y are selected at random. Given that 0  x  1; 0  y  1 . Let A be the event that

y 2  x ; B be the event that x 2  y , then -

1
(A) P(A  B )  (B) A & B are exhaustive events
3
(C) A & B are mutually exclusive (D) A & B are independent events.
12. A Urn contains 'm' white and 'n' black balls. Balls are drawn one by one till all the balls are drawn. Probability that
the second drawn ball is white, is -

m m(n  1)
(A) (B)
m n (m  n)(m  n  1)

m(m  1) mn
(C) (D)
(m  n)(m  n  1) (m  n)(m  n  1)

13. Two buses A and B are scheduled to arrive at a town central bus station at noon. The probability that bus A will
be late is 1/5. The probability that bus B will be late is 7/25. The probability that the bus B is late given that bus
A is late is 9/10. Then the probabilities
(i) neither bus will be late on a particular day and
(ii) bus A is late given that bus B is late, are respectively
(A) 2/25 and 12/28 (B) 18/25 and 22/28 (C) 7/10 and 18/28 (D) 12/25 and 2/28
14. If A & B are two events such that P(B)  1, BC denotes the event complementary to B, then -
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

P(A )  P(A  B)
(A) P(A/BC) = (B) P(A  B)  P(A) + P(B) –1
1  P(B)

(C) P(A) >< P(A/B) according as P(A/BC) >< P(A) (D) P(A/BC) + P(AC/BC) = 1
15. The probabilities of events, A  B, A, B & A  B are respectively in A.P. with probability of second term equal
to the common difference. Therefore the events A and B are -
(A) compatible (B) independent
(C) such that one of them must occur (D) such that one is twice as likely as the other
16. From an urn containing six balls, 3 white and 3 black ones, a person selects at random an even number of balls
(all the different ways of drawing an even number of balls are considered equally probable, irrespective of their
number). Then the probability that there will be the same number of black and white balls among them -

4 11 11 2
(A) (B) (C) (D)
5 15 30 5
E 63
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
17. A pair of fair dice having six faces numbered from 1 to 6 are thrown once, suppose two events E and F are
defined as -
E : Product of the two numbers appearing is divisible by 5.
F : At least one of the dice shows up the face one.
Then the events E and F are
(A) mutually exclusive (B) independent
(C) neither independent nor mutually exclusive (D) are equiprobable
18. Shalu brought two cages of birds : Cage-I contains 5 parrots
and 1 owl and Cage-II contains 6 parrots, as shown. One day Cage-I Cage-II
Shalu forgot to lock both cages and two birds flew from Cage-
I to Cage-II. Then two birds flew back from Cage-II to Cage-I.
Assume that all birds have equal chance of flying, the
probability that the Owl is still in Cage-I, is -
(A) 1/6 (B) 1/3
Birds like to fly
(C) 2/3 (D) 3/4
19. In a maths paper there are 3 sections A, B & C. Section A is compulsory. Out of sections B & C a student has
to attempt any one. Passing in the paper means passing in A & passing in B or C. The probability of the student
passing in A, B & C are p, q & 1/2 respectively. If the probability that the student is successful is 1/2 then,
which of the following is false -
(A) p = q = 1 (B) p = q = 1/2 (C) p = 1, q = 0 (D) p = 1, q = 1/2
20. Sixteen players s1, s2,.........,s16 play in a tournament. They are divided into eight pairs at random. From each
pair a winner is decided on the basis of a game played between the two players of the pair. Assume that all the
players are of equal strength. The probability that "exactly one of the two players s1 & s2 is among the eight
winners" is -

4 7 8 9
(A) (B) (C) (D)
15 15 15 15
21. The number 'a' is randomly selected from the set {0, 1, 2, 3,.........98, 99}. The number 'b' is selected from the
same set. Probability that the number 3a + 7b has a digit equal to 8 at the units place, is -

1 2 4 3
(A) (B) (C) (D)
16 16 16 16

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
22 If E & F are the complementary events of events E & F respectively & if 0 < P (F) < 1 , then - [JEE 98]

(A) P(E F )  P( E F )  1 (B) P(E F )  P(E F )  1 (C) P(E F )  P(E F )  1 (D) P(E F )  P(E F )  1

BRAIN TEASER S ANSWER KEY EXERCISE-02

Que. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ans. B C,D D D A ,C , D A B A, B, C C B
Que. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Ans. A,B A C A,B, C,D D B C,D D A, B, C C
Que. 21 22
Ans. D A,D

64
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 03 MISCELLANEOUS TYPE QUESTIONS

FILL IN THE BLANKS :

1. If P(A  B) = P(A  B) then the relation between P(A) and P(B) is .........
2. Let A and B be two events such that P(A) = 0.3 and P(A  B) = 0.8. If A and B are independent events
then P(B) = ...........
3. Three faces of a fair die are yellow, two faces red and one blue. The die is tossed three times. The probability
that the colours yellow, red and blue, appear in the first, second and the third tosses respectively is ...........
(1  p) (1  2p)
4. If (1  3p) , and are the probabilities of three mutually exclusive events, then the set of
3 4 2
all values of p is ..........
5. The probability that a randomly selected three-digit number has exactly three factors will be ............
MATCH THE COLUMN :
Following questions contains statements given in two columns, which have to be matched. The statements in
Column-I are labelled as A, B, C and D while the statements in Column-II are labelled as p, q, r and s. Any given
statement in Column-I can have correct matching with ONE statement in Column-II.

1. Column-I Column-II
12
(A) A natural number x is randomly selected from the set of first 100 natural (p)
17
100
numbers. The probability that it satisfies the inequality x   50 is
x
11
(B) 5 different marbles are placed in 5 different boxes randomly. (q)
20
If each box can hold any number of marbles then the probability
that exactly two boxes remain empty is
12
(C) A letter is known to have come either from London or Clifton. On the (r)
25
postmark only the two consecutive letters ON are legible. The chance
that it came from London is
3
(D) There are three works, one consisting of 3 volumes, one of 4 and (s)
20
the other of one volume. They are placed on a shelf at random. If the
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

chance that volumes of same works are all together is P1 then 7P1 =

2. An urn contain six red balls and four black balls. All ten balls are drawn from the urn, one by one a n d
their colour is noted. Balls are not replaced once they have been drawn.

Column-I Column-II
1
(A) Probability that first three balls are of same colour (p)
5
3
(B) Probability that last three balls are of same colour (q)
5
4
(C) If it is known that first three are of the same colour, then the (r)
15
probability that colour is red is
5
(D) Probability that no two consecutive balls in first three draw are same is (s)
6
E 65
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
ASSERTION & REASON

These questions contain, Statement I (assertion) and Statement II (reason).

(A) Statement-I is true, Statement-II is true ; Statement-II is correct explanation for Statement-I.

(B) Statement-I is true, Statement-II is true ; Statement-II is NOT a correct explanation for statement-I

(C) Statement-I is true, Statement-II is false

(D) Statement-I is false, Statement-II is true

 (A  B)  A A B 
1. Statement-I : P   = P   + P  
 C  C
   C 

Because

Statement-II : P( A  B ) = P(A) – P(A  B)

(A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D

2. From a well shuffled pack of 52 playing cards a card is drawn at random. Two events A and B are
defined as :

A : Red card is drawn ; B : Card drawn is either a Diamond or Heart

Statement-I : P(A+B) = P(AB)

Because

Statement-II : A  B and B  A

(A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D

3. A fair coin is tossed 3 times. Consider the events

A : first toss is head ; B : second toss is head ;

C : exactly two consecutive heads or exactly two consecutive tails

Statement-I : A,B,C are independent events.

Because

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
Statement-II : A,B,C are pairwise independent.

(A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D

4. Consider (a, b), where a and b are respective outcomes in throwing an unbiased die twice.
3
 ax  bx  1 x 1
Statement-I : If lim    6 , then the probability that 'a' is a prime number is .
x 0
 3  2

Because
Statement-II : If A & B are two events then probability of event B when event A has already happened is

P(A  B)
P(B / A )  .
P(A )

(A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D

66
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
COMPREHENSION BASED QUESTIONS

Comprehension # 1
Let S and T are two events defined on a sample space with probabilities
P(S) = 0.5, P(T) = 0.69, P(S/T) = 0.5
On the basis of above information, answer the following questions :
1. Events S and T are -
(A) mutually exclusive (B) independent
(C) mutually exclusive and independent (D) neither mutually exclusive nor independent
2. The value of P(S and T) -
(A) 0.3450 (B) 0.2500 (C) 0.6900 (D) 0.350
3. The value of P(S or T) -
(A) 0.6900 (B) 1.19 (C) 0.8450 (D) 0
Comprehension # 2
A JEE aspirant estimates that she will be successful with an 80 percent chance if she studies 10 hours per day,
with a 60 percent chance if she studies 7 hours per day and with a 40 percent chance if she studies 4 hours per
day. She further believes that she will study 10 hours, 7 hours and 4 hours per day with probabilities 0.1, 0.2
and 0.7, respectively.
On the basis of above information, answer the following questions :
1. The chance she will be successful, is -
(A) 0.28 (B) 0.38 (C) 0.48 (D) 0.58
2. Given that she is successful, the chance she studied for 4 hours, is -
6 7 8 9
(A) (B) (C) (D)
12 12 12 12
3. Given that she does not achieve success, the chance she studied for 4 hour, is -
18 19 20 21
(A) (B) (C) (D)
26 26 26 26
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

M ISCEL L AN E OU S TYP E Q U ESTION ANSWER KEY EXERCISE-03

 F i ll i n t h e B lanks

1 1 7
1. P(A) = P(B) 2. 5/7 3. 1/36 4. p 5.
3 2 900
 Matc h th e C o lu mn
1 . (A) (q); (B) (r); (C) (p); (D) (s) 2 . (A) (p); (B) (p); (C) (s); (D) (r)
 A s s er ti o n & R eas o n
1. D 2. A 3. B 4. A
 C o mp r eh e ns i o n B as ed Qu es ti o ns
Comprehensi on # 1 : 1. B 2. A 3. C

Comprehensi on # 2 : 1. C 2. B 3. D
E 67
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 04 [A] CONCEPTUAL SUBJECTIVE EXERCISE

1. Numbers are selected at random, one at a time, from the two digit numbers 00, 01, 02,....., 99 with replacement.
An event E occurs if & only if the product of the two digits of a selected number is 18. If four numbers are
selected, find the probability that the event E occurs at least 3 times.
2. A pair of fair dice is tossed. Find the probability that the maximum of the two numbers is greater than 4.
3. In a given race, the odds in favour of four horses A, B, C & D are 1 : 3, 1 : 4, 1 : 5 and 1 : 6 respectively. Assuming
that a dead heat is impossible, find the chance that one of them wins the race.
4. What is the probability that in a group of
(a) 2 people, both will have the same date of birth.
(b) 3 people, atleast 2 will have the same date of birth.
Assume the year to be ordinary consisting of 365 days.
5. The odds that a book will be favourably reviewed by three independent critics are 5 to 2, 4 to 3 and 3 to 4
respectively. What is the probability that of the three reviews a majority will be favourable?
6. In a box, there are 8 alphabets cards with the letters : S, S, A, A, A, H, H, H. Find the probability that the
word ‘ASH’ will form if :
(a) the three cards are drawn one by one & placed on the table in the same order that they are drawn.
(b) the three cards are drawn simultaneously.
7. There are 2 groups of subjects one of which consists of 5 science subjects & 3 engg. subjects & other consists
of 3 science & 5 engg. subjects. An unbiased die is cast. If the number 3 or 5 turns up a subject is selected
at random from first group, otherwise the subject is selected from 2nd group. Find the probability that an engg.
subject is selected.
8. In a building programme the event that all the materials will be delivered at the correct time is M and the event
that the building programme will be completed on time is F. Given that P(M) = 0.8 and P(M  F) = 0.65, find
P(F/M). If P(F) = 0.7, find the probability that the building programme will be completed on time if all the
materials are not delivered at the correct time.
9. A covered basket of flowers has some lilies and roses. In search of rose, Sweety and Shweta alternately pick
up a flower from the basket but put it back if it is not a rose. Sweety is 3 times more likely to be the first one
to pick a rose. If sweety begin this 'rose hunt' and if there are 60 lilies in the basket, find the number of roses
in the basket.
10. The probability that an archer hits the target when it is windy is 0.4; when it is not windy, her probability of
hitting the target is 0.7. On any shot, the probability of a gust of wind is 0.3. Find the probability that :
(a) She hits the target on first shot
(b) She hits the target exactly once in two shots.

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
11. A room has three electric lamps. From a collection of 10 electric bulbs of which 6 are good 3 are selected
at random & put in the lamps. Find the probability that the room is lighted.
12. A bomber wants to destroy a bridge. Two bombs are sufficient to destroy it. If four bombs are dropped, what
is the probability that it is destroyed, if the chance of a bomb hitting the target is 0.4.
13. The chance of one event happening is the square of the chance of a 2nd event, but odds against the first are
the cubes of the odds against the 2nd. Find the chances of each. (Assume that both events are neither sure nor
impossible).
14. A box contains 5 radio tubes of which 2 are defective. The tubes are tested one after the other until the
2 defective tubes are discovered. Find the probability that the process stopped on the (a) Second test ;
(b) Third test. If the process stopped on the third test, find the probability that the first tube is non defective.
15. Anand plays with Karpov 3 games of chess. The probability that he wins a game is 0.5, looses with probability
0.3 and ties with probability 0.2. If he plays 3 games then find the probability that he wins atleast two games.
16. An aircraft gun can take a maximum of four shots at an enemy’s plane moving away from it. The probability
of hitting the plane at first, second, third & fourth shots are 0.4, 0.3, 0.2 & 0.1 respectively. What is the
probability that the gun hits the plane.

68
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
17. One hundred management students who read at least one of the three business magazines are surveyed to study
the readership pattern. It is found that 80 read Business India, 50 read Business World and 30 read Business
Today. Five students read all the three magazines. A student was selected randomly. Find the probability that
he reads exactly two magazines.
18. An author writes a good book with a probability of 1/2. If it is good it is published with a probability of
2/3. If it is not, it is published with a probability of 1/4. Find the probability that he will get atleast one book
published if he writes two.
19. 3 students {A, B, C} tackle a puzzle together and offers a solution upon which majority of the 3 agrees. Probability
of A solving the puzzle correctly is p. Probability of B solving the puzzle correctly is also p. C is a dumb student
who randomly supports the solution of either A or B. There is one more student D, whose probability of solving
the puzzle correctly is once again, p. Out of the 3 member team {A, B, C} and one member team {D}, which
one is more likely to solve the puzzle correctly.
20. Consider the following events for a family with children A = {of both sexes}; B = {at most one boy}
In which of the following (are/is) the events A and B are independent.
(a) if a family has 3 children (b) if a family has 2 children
Assume that the birth of boy or a girl is equally likely mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
21. Each of the ‘n’ passengers sitting in a bus may get down from it at the next stop with probability p. Moreover,
at the next stop either no passenger or exactly one passenger boards the bus. The probability of no passenger
boarding the bus at the next stop being po. Find the probability that when the bus continues on its way after
the stop, there will again be ‘n’ passengers in the bus.
22. An examination consists of 8 questions in each of which the candidate must say which one of the 5 alternatives
is correct one. Assuming that the student has not prepared earlier chooses for each of the question any one
of 5 answers with equal probability.
(a) prove that the probability that he gets more than one correct answer is (58  3 x 4 8) / 5 8 .
(b) find the probability that he gets correct answers to six or more questions.
23. A purse contains n coins of unknown value, a coin drawn at random is found to be a rupee, what is the chance
that it is the only rupee in the purse? Assume all numbers of rupee coins in the purse to be equally likely.
24. A biased coin which comes up heads three time as often as tails is tossed. If it shows head, a chip is drawn from
urn-I which contains 2 white chips and 5 red chips. If the coin comes up tail, a chip is drawn from
urn-II which contains 7 white and 4 red chips. Given that a red chip was drawn, what is the probability that
the coin came up head ?
25. 3 players A, B & C toss a coin cyclically in that order ( that is A, B, C, A, B, C, A, B, .......) till a head shows. Let
p be the probability that the coin shows a head. Let ,  &  be respectively the probability that A, B and C
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

gets the first head. Prove that   (1  p) . Determine ,  &  ( in terms of p). [JEE 98]

CON CEP TUAL SU BJ ECTIVE E X ER CISE ANSWER KEY EXERCISE-04(A)

1 364  363 209

1. 97/(25) 4 2 . 5/ 9 3. 319/420 4. (a) ; (b) 1  5.
365  365 2 343

13 1
6. (a) 3/56 (b) 9/28 7. 13/24 8. P(F/M)= ; P(F / M )  9. 120
16 4
29 328 1 1
1 0 . (a) 0.61; (b) 0.4758 11. 12. 13. , 1 4 . (a) 1/10 (b) 3/10 (c) 2/3
30 625 9 3
1 5 . 1/ 2 1 6 . 0.6976 1 7 . 1/ 2 1 8 . 407/576 1 9 . Both are equally likely
2 0 . Independent in (a) and not independent in (b) 2 1 . (1  p)n1. [ po (1  p) + np(1 p0 )]
481 2 165 p (1  p) p (1  p)2 p
22. 23. 24. 25  ,   ,  
58 n(n  1) 193 1  (1  p) 3 1  (1  p) 3 1  (1  p) 3

E 69
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 04 [B] BRAIN STORMING SUBJECTIVE EXERCISE

1. Two distinct numbers a and b are chosen randomly from the set {2, 22, 23, 24,.....,225}. Find the probability
that logab is an integer.
2. A uniform unbiased die is constructed in the shape of a regular tetrahedron with faces numbered 2, 2, 3 and
4 and the score is taken from the face on which the die lands. If two such dice are thrown together, find the
probability of scoring.
(a) exactly 6 on each of 3 successive throws.
(b) more than 4 on atleast one of the three successive throws.
3. A cube with all six faces coloured is cut into 64 cubical blocks of the same size which are thoroughly mixed.
Find the probability that the 2 randomly chosen blocks have 2 coloured faces each.
4. A player tosses an unbiased coin and is to score two points for every head turned up and one point for every tail
turned up. If Pn denotes the probability that his score is exactly n points, prove that
1
Pn – Pn–1 = (P – Pn–1), n  3
2 n–2
Also compute P1 and P2 and hence deduce the probability that he scores exactly 4.
5. The probabilities that three men hit a target are, respectively, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.4. Each fires once at the target.
(As usual, assume that the three events that each hits the target are independent)
(a) Find the probability that they all : (i) hit the target; (ii) miss the target
(b) Find the probability that the target is hit : (i) atleast once, (ii) exactly once.
(c) If only one hits the target, what is the probability that is was the first man ?

6. Let A & B be two events defined on a sample space. Given P(A) = 0.4 ; P(B) = 0.80 and P A/B   = 0.10.


Then find ; (i) P A  B     
& (ii) P  A  B  A  B  .

1 2
7. Three shots are fired at a target in succession. The probabilities of a hit in the first shot is , in the second
2 3
3 1
and in the third shot is . In case of exactly one hit, the probability of destroying the target is and in the case
4 3
7
of exactly two hits and in the case of three hits is 1.0. Find the probability of destroying the target in three
11
shots.
8. A certain drug, manufactured by a Company is tested chemically for its toxic nature. Let the event "THE DRUG

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
IS TOXIC " be denoted by H & the event "THE CHEMICAL TEST REVEALS THAT THE DRUG IS TOXIC " be denoted by S.

Let P(H) = a, P(S/H) = P (S / H ) = 1  a. Then show that the probability that the drug is not toxic given that
the chemical test reveals that it is toxic, is free from ‘a’.
9. A plane is landing. If the weather is favourable, the pilot landing the plane can see the runway. In this case
the probability of a safe landing is p1. If there is a low cloud ceiling, the pilot has to make a blind landing by
instruments. The reliability (the probability of failure free functioning ) of the instruments needed for a blind
landing is P. If the blind landing instruments function normally, the plane makes a safe landing with the same
probability p1 as in the case of a visual landing. If the blind landing instruments fail, then the pilot may make
a safe landing with probability p2 < p1. Compute the probability of a safe landing if it is known that in K percent
of the cases there is a low cloud ceiling. Also find the probability that the pilot used the blind landing instruments,
if the plane landed safely.
10. A is a set containing n distinct elements. A non-zero subset P of A is chosen at random. The set A is reconstructed
by replacing the elements of P. A non-zero subset Q of A is again chosen at random. Find the probability that
P & Q have no common elements.

70
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
11. In a multiple choice question there are five alternative answers of which one or more than one is correct. A
candidate will get marks on the question only if he ticks the correct answers. The candidate ticks the answers
at random. If the probability of the candidate getting marks on the question is to be greater than or equal to
1/3, find the least number of chances he should be allowed.
12. The ratio of the number of trucks along a highway, on which a petrol pump is located, to the number of cars
running along the same highway is 3 : 2. It is known that an average of one truck in thirty trucks and two cars in
fifty cars stop at the petrol pump to be filled up with the fuel. If a vehicle stops at the petrol pump to be filled
up with the fuel, find the probability that it is a car.
13. There are 6 red balls & 8 green balls in a bag. 5 balls are drawn out at random & placed in a red box ; the
remaining 9 balls are put in a green box. What is the probability that the number of red balls in the green box
plus the number of green balls in the red box is not a prime number ?
14. (a) Two natural numbers x & y are chosen at random. Find the probability that x²+y² is divisible by 10.
(b) Two numbers x & y are chosen at random from the set {1,2,3,4,....3n}. Find the probability that
x²  y² is divisible by 3.
a2
15. A hunter’s chance of shooting an animal at a distance r is (r > a). He fires when r = 2a & if he misses
r2
he reloads & fires when r = 3a, 4a,..... If he misses at a distance ‘na’, the animal escapes. Find the odds against
the hunter.
16. There are two lots of identical articles with different amount of standard and defective articles. There are N
article in the first lot, n of which are defective and M articles in the second lot, m of which are defective . K
articles are selected from the first lot and L articles from the second and a new lot results. Find the probability
that an article selected at random from the new lot is defective.
17. A, B are two inaccurate arithmeticians whose chances of solving a given question correctly are (1/8) and
(1/12) respectively. They solve a problem and obtained the same result. If it is 1000 to 1 against their making
the same mistake, find the chance that the result is correct.
18. Eight players P1 , P2 , P3 ,..........P8 play a knockout tournament. It is known that whenever the players Pi and
Pj play , the player Pi will win if i < j . Assuming that the players are paired at random in each round, what
is the probability that the players P4 reaches the final ? [JEE 99]

BRAIN STOR MIN G SUBJ ECTIVE E X ER CISE ANSWER KEY EXERCISE-04(B)

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

31 125 63 24
C2 23
1. 2. (a) 3 (b) 3. or 4. P 1 = 1/2, P 2 = 3/4
300 16 64 64
C2 168

5
5. (a) 6%, 21% ; (b) 79%, 44% ; (c) 9/44  20.45% 6. (i) 0.82 (ii) 0.76 7. 8. P (H / S ) = 1/2
8

K
[Pp1  (1  P )p 2 ]
 K  K 100
9. P(E )   1   p1  [P p1  (1  P ) p 2 ] ; P(H 2 / A ) 
 100  100  K  K
1   p1  [Pp1  (1  P )p 2 ]
 100  100

4
1 0 . (3 n – 2 n+1 + 1)/(4 n – 2 n+1 + 1) 11. 11 12. 1 3 . 213/1001
9
(5n  3) KnM  LmN 13
1 4 . (a) 9/50 (b) 1 5 . n+1 : n  1 16. 17. 18. 4/35
(9n  3) MN(K  L ) 14

E 71
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 05 [A] JEE-[MAIN] : PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS

1. A problem in Mathematics is given to three students A, B, C and their respectively probability of solving the
1 1 1
problem is , and . Probability that the problem is solved is- [AIEEE 2002]
2 3 4
3 1 2 1
(1) (2) (3) (4)
4 2 3 3

3 1 2
2. If A and B are events such that P (A  B) = , P(A  B) = , P (A )  , then P(A  B) is- [AIEEE 2002]
4 4 3

5 3 5 1
(1) (2) (3) (4)
12 8 8 4
3. A die is tossed 5 times. Getting an odd number is considered a success. Then the variance of distribution of
success is- [AIEEE 2002]

8 3 4 5
(1) (2) (3) (4)
3 8 5 4
4. Five horses are in a race. Mr. A selects two of the horses at random and bets on them. The probability that
Mr. A selected the winning horse is- [AIEEE 2003]

4 3 1 2
(1) (2) (3) (4)
5 5 5 5

(1  3p) (1  p) (1  2p)
5. If , and are the probabilities of three mutually exclusive events, then the set of all
3 4 2
values of p is- [AIEEE 2003]

1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2
(1) p (2)  p  (3) p (4) p
3 2 3 2 2 3 2 3
6. A speaks truth in 75% cases and B in 80% cases. What is the probability that they contradict each other in
stating the same fact ? [AIEEE 2004]

7 13 3 1
(1) (2) (3) (4)
20 20 20 5

7. A random variable X has the probability distribution :

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
X: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
p(X) : 0.15 0.23 0.12 0.10 0.20 0.08 0.07 0.05

For the events E = {X is a prime number} and F = {X < 4}, the probability P(E  F) is- [AIEEE 2004]

(1) 0.35 (2) 0.77 (3) 0.87 (4) 0.50

8. The mean and the variance of a binomial distribution are 4 and 2 respectively. Then the probability of 2 successes
is- [AIEEE 2004]

128 219 37 28
(1) (2) (3) (4)
256 256 256 256
1 1 1
9. 
Let A and B be two events such that P A  B 
6

, P(A  B) =
4
and P (A ) =
4
, where A stands for
complement of event A. Then events A and B are - [AIEEE 2005]
(1) mutually exclusive and independent (2) independent but not equally likely
(3) equally likely but not independent (4) equally likely and mutually exclusive

72
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
10. Three houses are available in a locality. Three persons apply for the houses. Each applies for one house without
consulting others. The probability that all the three apply for the same house is- [AIEEE 2005]

(1) 7/9 (2) 8/9 (3) 1/9 (4) 2/9

11. Two aeroplanes I and II bomb a target in succession. The probabilities of I and II scoring a hit correctly are 0.3
and 0.2, respectively. The second plane will bomb only if the first misses the target. the probability that the
targert is hit by the second plane is :- [AIEEE-2007]
(1) 0.14 (2) 0.2 (3) 0.7 (4) 0.06

1 A 1 B 2
12. It is given that the events A and B are such that P(A) = , P( ) = and P( ) = . Then P(B) is
4 B 2 A 3
[AIEEE-2008]

1 1 2 1
(1) (2) (3) (4)
6 3 3 2
13. A die is thrown. Let A be the event that the number obtained is greater than 3. Let B be the event that the
number obtained is less than 5. Then P  A  B  is [AIEEE-2008]

3 2
(1) (2) 0 (3) 1 (4)
5 5
14. One ticket is selected at random from 50 tickets numbered 00, 01, 02, ....., 49. Then the probability that the
sum of the digits on the selected ticket is 8, given that the product of these digits is zero, equals [AIEEE-2009]
(1) 5/14 (2) 1/50 (3) 1/14 (4) 1/7

 1 9
15. In a binomial distribution B  n, p   , if the probability of at least one success is greater than or equal to ,
 4 10
then n is greater than [AIEEE-2009]

9 4 1 1
(1) 1og 4  log 3 (2) (3) (4)
10 10 1og 10 4  log 10 3 1og 10 4  log 10 3 1og 10 4  log 10 3
16. An urn contains nine balls of which three are red, four are blue and two are green. Three balls are drawn at
random without replacement from the urn. The probability that the three balls have difference colours is :-
[AIEEE-2010]

1 2 1 2
(1) (2) (3) (4)
3 7 21 23
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

17. Four numbers are chosen at random (without replacement) from the set (1, 2, 3, ...., 20).

1
Statement–1 : The probability that the chosen numbers when arranged in some order will form an AP is
85
Statement–2 : In the four chosen numbers form an AP, then the set of all possible values of common difference
is {±1, ±2, ±3, ±4, ±5}. [AIEEE-2010]
(1) Statement–1 is true, Statement–2 is true; Statement–2 is a correct explanation for Statement–1.
(2) Statement–1 is true, Statement–2 is true; Statement–2 is not a correct explanation for statement–1.
(3) Statement–1 is true, Statement–2 is false.
(4) Statement–1 is false, Statement–2 is true.
18. If C and D are two events such that C  D and P(D)  0, then the correct statement among the following is :-
[AIEEE-2011]

P(D)
(1) P(C | D)  P(C) (2) P(C | D)  (3) P(C|D) = P(C) (4) P(C|D)  P(C)
P(C )
E 73
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
19. Consider 5 independent Bernoulli's trials each with probability of success p. If the probability of at least one
31
failure is greater than or equal to , then p lies in the interval :- [AIEEE-2011]
32
 1  11  1 3  3 11 
(1) 0,  (2)  ,1  (3)  ,  (4)  , 
 2  12  2 4  4 12 
20. Let A, B, C be pairwise independent events with P(C)> 0 and P(A  B C)=0. Then P(A c B c|C) is equal to:
[AIEEE-2011]
(1) P(Ac) – P(B) (2) P(A) – P(Bc) (3) P(A c) + P(B c) (4) P(Ac) – P(Bc)
21. Three numbers are chosen at random without replacement from {1, 2, 3, ..... , 8}. The probability that their
minimum is 3, given that their maximum is 6, is : [AIEEE-2012]

2 3 1 1
(1) (2) (3) (4)
5 8 5 4
22. A multiple choice examination has 5 questions. Each question has three alternative answers of which exactly
one is correct. The probability that a student will get 4 or more correct answers just by guessing is :
[JEE (Main)-2013]

17 13 11 10
(1) 5 (2) 5 (3) 5 (4)
3 3 3 35

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

P RE VIOU S Y EARS QU E STION S ANSWER KEY E XE R CISE -5 [A]

Q u e. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Ans 1 1 4 4 1 1 2 4 2 3 1 2 3 3 3
Q u e. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Ans 2 3 4 1 1 3 3

74
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics

EXERCISE - 05 [B] JEE-[ADVANCED] : PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS

1. A coin has probability ‘p’ of showing head when tossed. If is tossed ‘n’ times. Let pn denote the probability that no
2
two ( or more ) consecutive heads occur. Prove that , p1 = 1, p2 = 1 – p & pn = (1 – p ) p n – 1 + p (1 – p ) p n – 2,
for all n  3. [JEE 2000 (Mains), 5M]
2. ( a ) An urn contains ‘m’ white and ‘n’ black balls. A ball is drawn at random and is put back into the urn along
with K additional balls of the same color as that of the ball drawn. A ball is again drawn at random. What is
the probability that the ball drawn now is white. [JEE 2001 (Mains), 5M]
( b ) An unbiased die, with faces numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 is thrown n times and the list of n numbers showing
up is noted. What is the probability that among the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, only three numbers appear in
the list. [JEE 2001 (Mains), 5M]
3. A box contains N coins, m of which are fair and the rest are biased . The probability of getting a head when a
fair coin is tossed is 1/2, while it is 2/3 when a biased coin is tossed. A coin is drawn from the box at random and
is tossed twice. The first time it shows head and the second time it shows tail. What is the probability that the coin
drawn is fair ? [JEE 2002 (Screening)]
4. ( a ) For a student to qualify , he must pass at least two out of three exams. The probability that he will pass the

p
1st exam is p . If he fails in one of the exams then the probability of his passing in the next exam is
2

otherwise it remains the same. Find the probability that he will qualify.

2 1 1
( b ) A is targeting to B, B and C are targeting to A . Probability of hitting the target by A, B and C are , ,
3 2 3

respectively. If A is hit then find the probability that B hits the target and C does not.
[JEE 2003, Mains-2 + 2 out of 60]
5. ( a ) If A & B are two independent events, prove that P(A  B).P(A'  B' )  P(C), where C is an event defined as
exactly one of A or (and) B occurs.
( b ) A bag contains 12 red balls and 6 white balls. Six balls are drawn one by one without replacement of which
atleast four balls are white. Find the probability that in the next two draws exactly one white ball is drawn.
(Leave the answer in terms of nCr.)
( c ) Three distinct numbers are selected from first hundred natural numbers, then probability of selected numbers
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

divisible by both 2 and 3 is - [JEE-2004, 2 + 4 + 3]

4 4 4 4
(A) (B) (C) (D)
25 35 55 1155

6. (a) A fair dice is thrown until 1 comes, then probability that 1 comes in even number of trials is -
(A) 5/11 (B) 5/6 (C) 6/11 (D) 1/6
[JEE 2005 (Screening)]
1 3 2 1
( b ) A person goes to office either by car, scooter, bus or train probability of which being , , and
nd
7 7 7 7
2 1 4 1
respectively. Probability that he reaches office late, if he takes car, scooter, bus or train is
, , and
nd
9 9 9 9
respectively. Given that he reached office in time, then what is the probability that he travelled by a car.
[ JEE 2005 (Mains) 2M out of 60]

E 75
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
7. There are n urns each containing n + 1 balls such that the ith urn contains i white balls and (n + 1 – i) red balls.
Let ui, be the event of selecting ith urn, i = 1, 2, 3,......,n and w denotes the event of getting a white ball
[JEE 2006, 15M out of 184]
( a ) If P (u i )  i , where i = 1, 2, 3,......,n, then lim P ( w ) is equal to -
n 
(A) 1 (B) 2/3 (C) 3/4 (D) 1/4
( b ) If P(ui) = c where c is a constant then P(un/w) is equal to -
2 1 n 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
n 1 n 1 n 1 2
FG P (u )  1 IJ , then the value of P(w/E) is -
(c) If n is even and E denotes the event of choosing even numbered urn H i
nK

n 2 n 2 n 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
2n  1 2 (n  1) n 1 n 1
8. One Indian and four American men and their wives are to be seated randomly around a circular table. Then
the conditional probability that the Indian man is seated adjacent to his wife given that each American man
is seated adjacent to his wife is - [JEE 2007, 3M]
1 1 2 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
2 3 5 5
c
9. Let E denote the complement of an event E. Let E,F,G be pairwise independent events with P(G) > 0 and
c c
P (E  F  G) = 0. Then P(E  F |G) equals :- [JEE 2007, 3M]
c c c c c c
(A) P(E ) + P(F ) (B) P(E ) – P(F ) (C) P(E ) – P(F) (D) P(E) – P(F )
10. Let H 1, H 2, ...., H n be mutually exclusive and exhaustive events with P(H i) > 0, i = 1,2...,n. Let E be any
other event with 0 < P (E) < 1.
Statement-I :
P(H i |E) > P (E|H i). P(H i) for i = 1,2,...,n...
because
n
Statement-II :  P(H i )  1 [JEE 2007, 3M]
i 1
(A) Statement-1 is True, Statement-2 is True ; Statement-2 is a correct explanation for Statement-1.
(B) Statement-1 is True, Statement-2 is True ; Statement-2 is NOT a correct explanation for Statement-1.
(C) Statement-1 is True, Statement-2 is False.
(D) Statement-1 is False, Statement-2 is True.
11. Consider the system of equations ax + by = 0, cx + dy = 0, where a, b, c, d  {0, 1}
3
Statement-I : The probability that the system of equations has a unique solution is .

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
8
because
Statement-II : The probability that the system of equations has a solution is 1. [JEE 2008, 3M]
(A) Statement-I is true, Statement-II is true ; Statement-II is correct explanation for Statement-I.
(B) Statement-I is true, Statement-II is true ; Statement-II is NOT a correct explanation for statement-I.
(C) Statement-I is true, Statement-II is false.
(D) Statement-I is false, Statement-II is true.
1 2 . An experiment has 10 equally likely outcomes. Let A and B be two non-empty events of the experiment. If A
consists of 4 outcomes, the number of outcomes that B must have so that A and B are independent, is -
[JEE 2008, 3M, –1M]
(A) 2, 4, or 8 (B) 3, 6 or 9 (C) 4 or 8 (D) 5 or 10
Comprehension : (Q.N. 13 to 15)
A fair die is tossed repeatedly until a six is obtained. Let X denote the number of tosses required.
1 3 . The probability that X = 3 equals - [JEE 2009, 4M, –1M]
25 25 5 125
(A) (B) (C) (D)
216 36 36 216

76
E
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
14. The probability that X  3 equals - [JEE 2009, 4M, –1M]
125 25 5 25
(A) (B) (C) (D)
216 36 36 216
15. The conditional probability that X  6 given X > 3 equals - [JEE 2009, 4M, –1M]
125 25 5 25
(A) (B) (C) (D)
216 216 36 36
16. Let  be a complex cube root of unity with   1. A fair die is thrown three times. If r1, r 2 and r 3 are
the numbers obtained on the die, then the probability that r1  r2  r3  0 is- [JEE 2010, 3M, –1M]

1 1 2 1
(A) (B) (C) (D)
18 9 9 36
4 1
17. A signal which can be green or red with probability and respectively, is received by station A and
5 5
3
then transmitted to station B. The probability of each station receiving the signal correctly is . If the signal
4
received at station B is green, then the probability that the original signal was green is -
[JEE 2010, 5M, –2M]
3 6 20 9
(A) (B) (C) (D)
5 7 23 20
Paragraph for Question 18 and 19
Let U 1 and U 2 be two urns such that U 1 contains 3 white and 2 red balls, and U 2 contains only 1 white ball. A
fair coin is tossed. If head appears then 1 ball is drawn at random from U1 and put into U2. However, if tail appears
then 2 balls are drawn at random from U 1 and put into U 2. Now 1 ball is drawn at random from U 2 .
1 8 . The probability of the drawn ball from U 2 being white is -
13 23 19 11
(A) (B) (C) (D)
30 30 30 30
19. Given that the drawn ball from U 2 is white, the probability that head appeared on the coin is -
17 11 15 12
(A) (B) (C) (D) [JEE 2011, 3+3]
23 23 23 23
11
20. Let E and F be two independent events. The probability that exactly one of them occurs is and the
25
2
probability of none of them occurring is . If P(T) denotes the probability of occurrence of the event T,,
25
then - [JEE 2011, 4M]
NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65

4 3 1 2
(A) P (E )  , P(F )  (B) P (E )  , P(F ) 
5 5 5 5

2 1 3 4
(C) P (E )  , P(F )  (D) P(E )  , P(F ) 
5 5 5 5
21. A ship is fitted with three engines E 1, E 2 and E 3. The engines function independently of each other with
1 1 1
respective probabilities , and . For the ship to be operational at least two of its engines must function.
2 4 4
Let X denote the event that the ship is operational and X1, X2, X3 denotes respectively the events that the
engines E 1, E 2 and E 3 are functioning. Which of the following is (are) true?
[JEE 2012, 4M]
3
(A) P  X 1c | X   (B) P[Exactly two engines of ship are functioning | X ]  7
16 8
5 7
(C) P[X | X 2 ]  (D) P[X | X 1 ] 
16 16

E 77
JEEMAIN.GURU
JEE-Mathematics
22. Four fair dice D1, D2, D3 and D4, each having six faces numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are rolled simultaneously.
The probability that D4 shows a number appearing on one of D1, D2 and D3 is - [JEE 2012, 4M]
91 108 125 127
(A) (B) (C) (D)
216 216 216 216

23. Let X and Y be two events such that P  X| Y   1 , P (Y | X )  1 and P  X  Y   1 . Which of the following
2 3 6
is(are) correct ? [JEE 2012, 4M]
2
(A) P  X  Y   (B) X and Y are independent
3

1
(C) X and Y are not independent 
(D) P X C  Y   3

1 3 1 1
24. Four persons independently solve a certain problem correctly with probabilities , , , . Then the probability
2 4 4 8
that the problem is solved correctly by at least one of them is
[JEE(Advanced) 2013, 2M]
235 21 3 253
(A) (B) (C) (D)
256 256 256 256
25. Of the three independent events E 1,E 2 and E 3, the probability that only E1 occurs is , only E2 occurs is
 and only E3 occurs is . Let the probability p that none of events E1,E2 or E3 occurs satisfy the equations
( – 2) p =  and ( – 3) p = 2. All the given probabilities are assumed of lie in the interval (0,1).
Pr obability of occurrence of E 1
Then  [JEE-Advanced 2013, 4, (–1)]
Pr obability of occurrence of E 3
Paragraph for Question 26 and 27
A box B1 contains 1 white ball, 3 red balls and 2 black balls. Another box B2 contains 2 white balls, 3 red balls
and 4 black balls. A third box B 3 contains 3 white balls, 4 red balls and 4 black balls.
26. If 2 balls are drawn (without replacement) from a randomly selected box and one of the balls is white and the
other ball is red, the probability that these 2 balls are drawn from box B2 is
116 126 65 55
(A) (B) (C) (D)
181 181 181 181
[JEE(Advanced) 2013, 3, (–1)]
27. If 1 ball is drawn from each of the boxes B1, B2 and B3, the probability that all 3 drawn balls are of the same
colour is

NODE6\E\Data\2014\Kota\JEE-Advanced\SMP\Maths\Unit#12\ENG\02.PROBABILITY.p65
82 90 558 566
(A) (B) (C) (D)
648 648 648 648
[JEE(Advanced) 2013, 3, (–1)]

P RE VIOU S Y EARS QU E STION S ANSWER KEY E XE R CISE -05 [B]

6
m C 3 (3 n  3.2 n  3) 9m
2 . (a) ; (b) 3. 4. (a) 2p2 – p3 ; (b) 1/2
m n 6n m  8N

10
C 1 . 2 C 1 . 6 C 4 . 12 C 2 11 C 1 . 1 C 1 . 6 C 5 . 12 C 1 1
5 . (b) (c) D 6. (a) A (b) 7. (a) B (b) A (c) B
12
C2 6
C4. 12 6
C2  C5. 12 6
C1  C 6 . 12
C0 7

8. C 9. C 10. D 11. B 12. D 13. A 14. B 15. D 16. C 17. C 18. B

19. D 2 0 . A,D 2 1 . B,D 22. A 2 3 . A,B 24. A 25. 6 26. D 27. A

78
E