Probability

Prof. Gustavo Sanchez

October, 2019

1 Problem
Two students are randomly selected from a statistics class, and it is ob-
served whether or not they su¤er from math anxiety. How many total
outcomes are possible?
Draw a tree diagram for this experiment.
Draw a Venn diagram
List all the outcomes included in each of the following events:

– Both students su¤er from math anxiety.

– Exactly one student su¤ers from math anxiety.
– The …rst student does not su¤er and the second su¤ers from math
anxiety.
– None of the students su¤ers from math anxiety.

2 Problem
Draw a tree diagram for three tosses of a coin. List all outcomes for this exper-
iment in a sample space S.

3 Problem
Suppose a randomly selected passenger is about to go through the metal detector
at JFK Airport in New York City. Consider the following two outcomes: The
passenger sets o¤ the metal detector, and the passenger does not set o¤ the
metal detector. Are these two outcomes equally likely? Explain why or why
not. If you are to …nd the probability of these two outcomes, would you use the
classical approach or the relative frequency approach? Explain why.

4 Problem
A hat contains 40 marbles. Of them, 18 are red and 22 are green. If one marble
is randomly selected out of this hat, what is the probability that this marble is
red?

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5 Problem
In a large city, 15,000 workers lost their jobs last year. Of them, 7400 lost their
jobs because their companies closed down or moved, 4600 lost their jobs due
to insu¢ cient work, and the remainder lost their jobs because their positions
were abolished. If one of these 15,000 workers is selected at random, …nd the
probability that this worker lost his or her job:

because the company closed down or moved

due to insu¢ cient work

because the position was abolished

6 Problem
Brie‡y explain the di¤erence between the marginal and conditional prob-
abilities of events. Give one example of each.
What is meant by two mutually exclusive events? Give one example of two
mutually exclusive events and another example of two mutually nonexclu-
sive events.
Brie‡y explain the meaning of independent and dependent events. Sup-
pose A and B are two events. What formula can you use to prove whether
A and B are independent or dependent?
What is the complement of an event? What is the sum of the probabilities
of two complementary events?
A statistical experiment has eight equally likely outcomes that are denoted
by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Let event A {2, 5, 7} and event B {2, 4,
8}. Are events A and B mutually exclusive events? Are events A and
B independent events? What are the complements of events A and B,
respectively, and their probabilities?
A restaurant menu has four kinds of soups, eight kinds of main courses,
…ve kinds of desserts, and six kinds of drinks. If a customer randomly
selects one item from each of these four categories, how many di¤erent
outcomes are possible?

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