PROBABILITY

Introduction:

In life we usually come across two types of experiments namely “Deterministic

Experiment and Random Experiment”.

Deterministic Experiment:

An experiment is said to “”Deterministic”, it has unique outcome, when repeated under

same conditions e.g.
1. Na + Cl Nacl
2. 2H2 + O2 2H2O
3. 7 + 5 12
4. Every soul shall taste death.
5. Time and Tide wait for none.

Such experiments are full of certainty.

Radom Experiment

An experiment which has two or more than two outcomes is said to be “Random” or
“Probabilistic Experiment”. The outcomes of such experiment face uncertainty.

1. On a cloudy day our mothers provide us an umbrella, when we leave our homes,
because it seems that it may rain.

2. Weather forecasting is another applicative example of Random experiment.

3. Tossing a coin.

4. Match between two teams.

5. Rolling a dice.

Probability is the measurement of certainty or uncertainty of outcomes in a Random

experiment, where there is uncertainty, Probability steps in:

Sample Space: The set of all possible outcomes of a Random experiment is called
sample space. It is usually denoted by “S”.

1. Rolling a die:
S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
Page 1 of 17
 2. Rolling a pair of die:
S = {(1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (1,4), (1,5), (1,6)}
{(2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4), (2,5), (2,6)}
{(3,1), (3,2), (3,3), (3,4), (3,5), (3,6)}
{(4,1), (4,2), (4,3), (4,4), (4,5), (4,6)}
{(5,1), (5,2), (5,3), (5,4), (5,5), (5,6)}
{(6,1), {6,2), (6,3), (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)}

3 Tossing a Coin:

S = {HT}

4 Tossing two coins

S = {(HH), (HT), (TH), (TT)}

5 Tossing three coins

S = {(HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT, TTT, TTH, THT, THH}

(Important Note : Find these elements, then replace “H” by “T” and vice versa )

6 Tossing four coins

S = { HHHH, HHHT, HHTH, HTHH} …
{ HHTT, HTTH, HTHT, HTTT}
{TTTT, TTTH, TTHT, THTT}
{TTHH, THHT, THTH THHH}
(Write these elements, then replace “H” by “T” and vice versa)
Remarks:

1. In case of rolling “n” dies

Total elements = 6n
2. In case of Tossing “n” coins
Total elements = 2n
7 Tossing a coin and die
S = { H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6}

EVENT: Let “S” be a sample space associated with the Random experiment then
any part (subset) of “S” is called “Event”. e.g. In case of rolling a dice

S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

Page 2 of 17
Let “A” be the event getting even number. Then
A = {2, 4, 6}
Let “B” be the event getting Prime number. Then
B = {2, 3, 5 }
(Compound even containing more than one element)
Let “C” be the event getting even number. Then
C = {2}
(Elementary event /simple event containing one element)
Let “D” be the event getting number less than “7”. Then

D = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 }
(Certain / sure elements, containing all elements of sample space).

Impossible Event:

Let “E” be an event getting number less than “1”, which is impossible, this is called
Impossible or Null Event denoted by ∅ containing no element at all.

Complimentary Event (𝑨 ):

Let “S” be a sample space, in case of match between two teams “E” and “F”, if “A” is
the event winning match by team “E” then complement event of “A” denoted by 𝐴
means losing match by team “E”. e.g.

S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

A = {2, 4, 6}

Then 𝐴 is also called “Negation of Event “A” or not “A”. Thus

A = {1, 3, 5}

Remarks: A is also called “negation of event” “A” or not “A”.

Occurrence of an Event:

An event “A” associated to a “Random experiment” is said to occur if any one of the
elementary events associated to the even “A” is an outcome. e.g.
S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
A = {2, 4, 6}
Suppose that in Trial/Experiment, the outcome is “4”. We say event “A” has occurred.
In another trial, if outcome is “3”, then we say even “A” has not occurred.

Page 3 of 17
 CLASS – X
CHAPTER - 15

IMPORTANT FORMULAS & CONCEPTS

PROBABILITY:

Experimental or empirical probability “P(E)” of an even “E” is

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅
P (E) =
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔

The theoretical probability (also called classical probability of an event “A”, written as
“P(A)” is

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑨

P (A) =
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕

𝒏 (𝑨)
=
𝒏 (𝑺)

Two or more events of an experiment, where occurrence of an event prevents of all

other events are called “Mutually Exclusive Events.”

Compliment Events and Probability:

We denote the event “not E” by 𝐸, so

P(E) + P(not E) = 1 .
i.e. P(E) + P 𝐸 = 1, which gives us
P(𝑬) = 1 – P(E)
In general, it is true that for an even E
P(𝑬) = 1 – P(E)
 The probability of an event which is impossible to occur is 0. Such event is called
impossible event, dentoted by P(∅). Thus
𝟎
P(∅ = = 0 Least (minimum)
𝒏(𝒔)

Page 4 of 17
 The probabilty of an event which is sure ( or certain) to occur is “1”. Such an
event is called Sure Event or a Certain Event, denoted by P(S). Thus
𝒏 (𝑺)
P(S) = = 1 Maximum
𝒏(𝑺)
 The probability of an event “E” is a number P(E) such that 0 ≤ P(E) ≤ 1
 An event having only one outcome is called an elementary event. The sum of the
probabilities of all the elementary events of an experiment is 1.

Deck of Cards and Probability

A deck of playing cards consists of 52 cards which are divided into 4 suits of 13 cards
each. They are Black Spades ( ) Red Hearts ( ), Red Diamond ( ) and Black
Club ( ).

The cards in each suit are Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2.

Kings, Queen and Jacks are called Face Cards.

Suits Spade Club Diamond Heart

Cards 13 13 13 13

Colour Black (26 Cards) Red (26 Cards)

Face Card (12) J, K, Q J,K, Q J,K,Q A, J, K, Q (Total

face Cards= 12)

Court Cards A,J, K, Q A, J,K, Q A, J,K,Q A, J, K, Q (Total

face Cards= 16)

Page 5 of 17
Equally Likely Events: Two or more events are said to be equally likely, if each one
of them has an equal chance of occurrence.

Mutually Exclusive Events: Two or more events are mutually exclusive, if the
occurrence of each event prevents the every other event.

Complementary Events: Consider an event has few outcomes. Event of all other
outcomes in the sample survey which are not in the favourable
even is called complementary event.

Exhausive Events : All the events are exhausive events, if their union is the
sample space.

Sure Events : The sample space of a random experiment is called sure or

certain event as any one of its elements will surely occur in
any trail of the experiment.

Impossible Event : An event which will occur on any account is called an

impossible event.

Page 6 of 17
 1 Mark Questions

Q.1 A coin is tossed 1000 times and 560 times a “head” occurs. The empirical
probability of occurrence of the “head” in this case is

a) 0.5 b) 0.56 c) 0.44 d) 0.056

Q.2 Two coins are tossed 200 times and the following out comes are recorded

HH HT/TH TT
56 110 34

What is the empirical probability of occurrence of at least one “head” in the case

a) 0.33 b) 0.34 c) 0.66 d) 0.83

A die is thrown 200 times and the following outcome are noted, with their
frequencies

Outcome 1 2 3 4 5 6

Frequency 56 22 30 42 32 18

Q.3 What is the empirical probability of getting a 1 in the above case.

a) 0.28 b) 0.22 c) 0.15 d) 0.21

Q.4 What is the empirical probability of getting a number less than 4?

a) 0.50 b) 0.54 c) 0.46 d) 0.52

Q.5 What is the empirical probability of getting a number greater than 4.

a) 0.32 b) 0.25 c) 0.18 d) 0.30

Q.6 On a particular day, the number of vehicles passing a crossing is given below:

Vehicle Two wheeler Three wheeler Four wheeler

Frequency 52 71 77

What is the probability of a two wheeler passing the crossing on that day?

a) 0.26 b) 0.71 c) 0.385 d) 0.615

Page 7 of 17
Q.7 The following table shows the blood- group of 100 students

Blood group A+ve B-ve O+ve AB-ve B+ve

Number of students 12 23 35 20 10

One student is taken a random. What is probability that his blood group is B+ve

a) 0.12 b) 0.35 c) 0.20 d) 0.10

Q.8 In a bag, there are 100 bulbs, out of which 30 are bad ones. A bulb is taken out
of the bag at random. The proability of the selected bulb to be good is

a) 0.50 b) 0.70 c) 0.30 d) None of these

Q.9 On a page of telephone directory having 250 telephone numbers, the frequency
of the unit digit of those number is given below

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

18 22 32 28 40 30 30 22 18 10

A telephone number is selected from the page at random. What is the probability
that its digit is

(a)2

a) 0.16 b) 0.128 c) 0.064 d) 0.04

(b) More than 6

a) 0.20 b) 0.25 c) 0.32 d) 0.16

(c) less than 2

a) 0.16 b) 0.18 c) 0.22 d) 0.32

Q.10 10 defective pens are accidentally mixed with 90 good ones. It is not possible to
just look at a pen and tell whether or not it is defective. One pen is taken out at
random from this lot. Determine the probability that the pen taken out is good
one.

a) 0.10 b) 0.20 c) 0.90 d) 1.0

Page 8 of 17
Q.11 Define Probability

Q.12 Why is tossing a coin considered to be a fair way of deciding which team should
get the ball at the beginning of a football game.

Q.13 Probability of sure event is 1 (T/F)

ANSWERS

Q.1 (b) Q.2 (d) Q.3 (a) Q.4 (b) Q.5 (b) Q.6 (a)
Q.7 (d) Q.8 (b) Q.9(a) b Q.9 (c) a Q.9 (c) a Q.10 (c)
Q.11 Definition Q.12 Because H and T have equal probabilities to occur
Q.13 (T)

Page 9 of 17
 2 Mark Questions

Q.1 An unbaised die is thrown. What is the probability of getting

i) An even number (ii) a multiple of 3 ……….

iii) An even number or multiple of 3 (iv) An odd number ……….
v) A number between 2 and 6 (vi) A number less than 1.
vii) A number less than or equal to 6

Q.2 Two unbaised coins are tossed simultaneously. Find the probability of getting

i) Two heads ii) One Head iii) One Tail

iv) Atleast one head v) At most one head vi) No head.

Q.3 Three unbaised coins are tossed together. Find the probability of getting

i) All heads ii) Two Heads iii) One Head

iv) Atleast two heads v) At most two heads

Q.4 Two dice are thrown simultaneously. Find the probability of getting

i) An even number as Sum ii) The sum as prime number

iii) A total of at least 10
iv) A doublet and a doublet of odd number
(Hint A ={ (1,1), (2,2), (3,3), (4,4), (5,5), (6,6))
𝟔 𝟏
P(A) = =
𝟑𝟔 𝟔

v) A multiple of 2 on one die and a multiple of 3 on the other.

vi ) A multiple of 3 as sum.

Q.5 There are six marbles in a box numbered 1 to 6. What is the probability of
drawing a marble with prime number.

Q.6 The probability that it will rain tommorrow is 0.75. What is the probability it will
not rain tommorrow?

Q.7 An Urn contain 10 read and 8 white balls. One ball is drawn at random. Find the
probability that the ball drawn is white.

Q.8 A bag contains 3 red balls , 5 black balls and 4 white balls. A ball is drawn at
random from the bag. What is the probability that the ball drawn is

i) White ii) Red iii) Black iv) Not Red

Page 10 of 17
Q.9 If probabity of winning a game is 0.5. What is the probability of lossing it.

Q.10 In a lottery there are 10 prizes and 25 blanks. What is he probability of

i) getting a prize ii) not getting a prize

Q.11 What is the probability that a number selected from the numbers 1,2,3…. 20 is a
mulitiple of 3.

ANSWERS

1 1 2 1 1
Q.1 i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) 0
2 3 3 2 2
vii) 1
1 1 1 3 3 1
Q.2 i) ii) iii) iv) v) .. vi)
4 2 2 4 4 4

1 3 3 1 7
Q.3 i) ii) iii) iv) v)
8 8 8 2 8
1 5 1 1 1 11
Q.4 i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi)
2 12 6 6 12 36
1
vii)
3
1 4 1 1
Q.5
2
Q.6 0.25 Q.7
9
Q.8 i)
3
ii)
4
...
5 3
iii) iv)
12 4
2 5 3
Q.9 0.95 Q.10 i) ii) Q.11
7 7 10

Page 11 of 17
 3 MARK QUESTIONS

Q.1 A lot consits of 144 ball pens of which 20 are defective and the others are good.
Nuri will buy a pen if it is good, but will not buy it if it defective. The shopkeeper
draws one pen at random and gives it to her. What is a probability that

a) She will buy it b) She will not buy it

Q.2 A jar contains 54 marbles each of which some are blue, some are green and some
are white. The probability of selecting a green marble at random is 1/3 and the
probability of selecting a blue marble at random is 4/9. How many white marbles
does the jar contain. (Hint: P(G) + P(B) + P (W)) = {1}

Q.3 A letter is chosen at random from the letter of the word “ASSASSINATION”.
Find the probability that letter choosen is (i) a vowel (ii) an consonant (iii) A (iv)
S (v) N.

Q.4 A letter is choosen at random from the letter of the word “INDEPENDENCE”.
Find the probability that the letter choosen is a (i) Vowel (ii) Consonant (iii) I
(iv) N (v) D.

Q.5 A letter is choosen at random from the letter of the word “MATHEMATICS”.
Find the probability that the letter choosen is a (i) Vowel (ii) Consonant (iii) A
(iv) T (v) M.

Q.6 A letter of English alphabet is choosen at random. Detrmine the probability that
the letter is consonant.

Q.7 There are 1000 sealed envelopes in a box . 10 of them contain a cash prize of
Rs. 100. 100 of them contain a cash prize of Rs. 50 each and 200 them contain
a cash prize of Rs. 10 and rest do not contain any cash prize. If they are well
shuffled and an envelope is picked up out. What is the probability that it contains
no cash prize?

Q.8 Box “A” contains 25 slips of which 19 are marked Rs. 1 and other marked
Rs. 5 each. Box “B” contains 50 slips of which 45 are marked Rs. 1, each and
other are marked Rs. 13 each. Slips of both boxes are poured into a third box and
reshuffled. A slip is drawn at random. What is the probability that it is marked
other than Rs. 1?

Page 12 of 17
Q.9 A carton of 24 bulbs contain 6 defective bulbs. One bulb is drawn at random.
What is th probability that the bulb is not defective. If the bulb selected is
defective and it is not replaced and a second bulb is selected at random from the
rest. What is the probability that the second is defective?

Q.10 A child’s game has 8 triangles of which three are blue and rest are red and 10
squares of which six are blue and rest are red. One piece is lost at random. Find
the probability it is a

(i) triangle (ii) square (iii) square of blue colur (iv) triangle of red colour

Q.11 In a game the entry fee is Rs. 5. The game consists of a tossing a coin three times.
If one or two head show. Sweta gets her entry fee back. If she throws three
heads, she receives double the entry fees. Otherwise, she will loss. For tossing a
coin three times. Find the probability that she
(i) loses the entry fee (ii) gets double entry fee
(iii) Just gets her entry fee.

Q.12 A dice has its six faces marked 0, 1, 1, 1, 6, 6. Two such dice are thrown together
and the total score is recored

(i) how many different scores are possible? ..

(ii) What is the probability of getting a total seven?
(Hint: Different Scores: 0,1,2,6,7,12.
Here “S” = (0,0) (0,1), (0,1) (0,1), (0,6), (0,6), (1,0), (1,1), (1,1),
(1,1), (1,6), (1,6), (1,0),….. (1,6), (1,6), (1,0)………..
(1,6), (1,6), (6,0), (6,1), (6,1), (6,1), (6,6), (6,6), (6,0),
(6,1), (6,1), (6,1), (6,6)(66)

P (Total) = 12/36 = 1/3

Q.13 A lot consists of 48 mobile phones of which 42 are good, three have only minor
defect and three have major defects. Varnika will buy a phone, if it is good, but
the trader will only buy a mobile if it had no major defect. One phone is selected
at random from the lot. What is the probability that it is

(i) a good phone (ii) a bad phone

Q.14 i) A lot of 20 bulbs contain 4 defective ones. One bulb is drawn at random
from the lot. What is the probability that this bulb is defective.

Page 13 of 17
 ii) Suppose the bulb drawn in (i) is not defective and is not replaced. Now
one bulb is drawn at random from the rest. What is the probability that this bulb
is not defective.

Q.15 A game of chance consits of spinnings an arrow which comes

to rest poinitng at one of the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (see
fig) and these are equally likely outcomes. What is the
probability that it will point at (i) 8 ? (ii) an odd number ? (iii)
a number greater than 2? (iv) a number less than 9 ?.

Q.16 Suppose you drop a die at random on the rectangular region

shown in above right sided figure. What is the probability that it will land inside
the circle with diameter 1 m?

.17 A child has a die whose six faces show the letters as given below:

The die is thrown once. What is the probability of getting (i) A ? ii) D ?.

Q.18 A game consists of tossing a one rupee coin 3 times and noting its outcome each
time. Hanief wins if all the tosses give the same result i.e. three heads or three
tails, and loses otherwise. Calculate the probability that Hanief will lose the
game.

Page 14 of 17
 ANSWERS

31 5 2
Q.1 (i) (ii) Q.2 (i)
36 36 9
6 7 3 4 2
Q.3 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v)
13 13 13 13 13
5 7 1 1 1
Q.4 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v)
12 12 3 4 6
4 7 2 2 2
Q.5 (ii) (iii) (iv) (iii)
11 11 11 11 11
21 69 11 3 5
Q.6 Q.7 = 0.69 Q.8 Q.9 (i) (ii)
26 100 75 4 23
4 5 1 5
Q.10 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
9 9 3 18
1 1 3 1
Q.11 (i) (ii) (iii) Q.12 (i) six (ii)
8 8 4 3
14 1 1 15
Q.13 (i) (ii) Q.14 (i) (ii)
15 15 5 19

1 1 3 𝜋 11
Q.15 (i) (ii) (iii) Q.16 (i) =
8 2 4 24 84

1 1 3
Q.17 (i) (ii) Q.18
3 6 4

Page 15 of 17
 4 Mark Questions

Q.1 Find the probability that a leap year selected at Random will contain 53 Sundays.
(Hint” In a leap year, we have 366 days or 52 weeks and 2 days. The remaining
2 days can be
a) Sundays and Monday b) Monday and Tuesday …
c) Tuesday and Wednesday d) Wednesday and Thursday …
e) Thursday and Friday f) Friday and Saturday ….
g) Saturday and Sunday.
2
Hence required probability =
7
Q.2 One card is drawn from a pack of 52 cards, each of the 52 cards being equally
likely drawn. Find the probability the card drawn is
a) An ace b) Red c) Either Red or King ..
d) Red and a King e) A face card f) A Red face card ….
g) 2 of Diamonds h) 10 of Black Suit.
Q.3 The King,Queen and Jack of Clubs are removed from a deck of 52 playing cards
and then well shuffled. One card is selected from the remaining cards. Find the
probability of:
a) a Heart b) a King c) a Club d) the 10 of hearts
Q.4 What is the probability that oridnary year has 53 Sundays?
Q.5 Red Queens and Black Jacks are removed from a pack of 52 playing cards. A
card is drawn at Random from the remaining cards. Find the probabiity that card
drawn is
a) a King b) of Red colour c) a Face card d) a Queen
Q.6 Cards drawn in a bag are numbered from 1 to 30. A card is drawn at random
from this bag. Find the probability that the number of card is
a) not divisible by 3 b) a prime number greater than 7.
c) not a perfect square number
Q.7 A dice is rolled twice. Find the probability that
a) 5 will not come up either time b) 5 will come up exactly one time

Page 16 of 17
Q.8 A box contains cards numbered 3, 5, 7, 9, ………, 35, 37. A card is drawn at
random from the box. Find the probability that the number on the drawn is a
prime number.
Q.9 What is the probability that a number selected at random from the numbers 1, 2,
2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, will be their average.
Q.10 If a number x is choosen at random from the numbers -2, -1, 0, 1, 2. What is the
probability that x2 < 27.
Q.11 A box contains 100 red cards, 200 yellow cards and 50 blue cards. If a card is
drawn at random from the box. Find the probability that it will be
a) a blue card b) not a yellow card c) neither yellow nor blue card

ANSWERS
2 1 1 7 1 3
Q.1 Q.2 i) ii) iii) iv) v)
7 13 2 13 26 13
3 1 1 13 3 10
vi) vii) viii) Q.3 i) ii) iii)
26 52 26 49 49 49
1 1 1 1 1 1
iv) Q.4 i) Q.5 i) ii) iii) iv)
49 7 12 2 6 24
2 1 5 25 5
Q.6 i) ii) iii) Q.7 i) ii) …
3 5 6 36 18
5 3 3 1
Q.8 i) Q.9 i) Q.10 i) Q11 i) …
9 10 5 7
3 2
ii) iii)
7 7

Page 17 of 17