Discrete Probability

Deck Of Cards (52 cards)

Black Cards (26

Colored Cards cards) Red Cards (26 cards)

Spade
(13 Club (13 Heart (13 Diamond
Suits cards) cards) cards) (13 cards)

K (King) K (King) K (King) K (King)

Face Cards
(12 cards in a Q (Queen) Q (Queen) Q (Queen) Q (Queen)
deck and 3 cards
in each suit) J (Jack) J (Jack) J (Jack) J (Jack)

10 10 10 10

9 9 9 9

8 8 8 8

7 7 7 7

6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5

4 4 4 4

Number Cards
(36 cards in a 3 3 3 3
deck and 9 cards
in a suit) 2 2 2 2

Ace Cards
(4 cards in deck
A (Ace) A (Ace) A (Ace) A (Ace)
and 1 card in a
suit)
 Discrete Probability
Deck of Cards Chart
The following chart represents the classification of the deck of playing cards:

Probability Formula

If E be an event with sample space S and the number of favourable

outcomes are n(E) then the probability of event E i.e., P(E) is given by:

P(E) = n(E) / n(S)

 Discrete Probability

Problem 1: What is the probability of drawing the following cards from

a deck of cards?
(i) a spade
(ii) a black card
(iii) a number card
Solution:
(i) Here, E is event of drawing a spade card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a spade card from deck =
13 (There are 13 cards of each suit in 1 deck)
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 13 / 52
P(E) = 1 / 4
Probability of drawing a spade = 1 / 4
(ii) Here, E is event of drawing a black card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a black card from deck = 26
(There are 26 black cards in 1 deck)
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 26 / 52
P(E) = 1 / 2
Probability of drawing a black card = 1 / 2
(iii) Here, E is event of drawing a number card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a number card from deck =
36 (There are 36 number cards in 1 deck)
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 36 / 52
P(E) = 9 / 13
Probability of drawing a number card = 9 / 13
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Problem 2: What is the probability of drawing the following cards from
a deck of cards?
(i) A king or a black card
(ii) A red and ace card
Solution:
(i) Here, E is event of drawing a king or a black card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a king or a black card from
deck = 26 + 2 = 28 (There are 26 black cards in which 2 are king and
remaining 2 kings of black in 1 deck)
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 28 / 52
P(E) = 7 / 13
Probability of drawing a king or a black card = 7 / 13
(ii) Here, E is event of drawing a red and ace card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
 Discrete Probability
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a red and ace card from
deck = 2 (There are 26 red cards in which 2 are ace cards)
According to question drawn card should be red and ace both. Therefore,
n(E) = 2
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 2 / 52
P(E) = 1 / 26
Probability of drawing a red and ace card= 1 / 26
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Problem 3: What is the probability of drawing the following cards from
a deck of cards?
(i) A non-club card
(ii) A non-face card
Solution:
(i) Here, E is event of drawing a non-club card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a non-club card from deck =
39 (There are 13 clubs in 1 deck, non- deck = 52 – 13 = 39)
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 39 / 52
P(E) = 3 / 4
Probability of drawing a non-club card = 3 / 4
(ii) Here, E is event of drawing a non-face card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing a non-face card from deck
= 40 (There are 12 face cards in 1 deck, non- deck = 52 – 12 = 40)
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 40 / 52
P(E) = 10 / 13
Probability of drawing a non-club card = 10 / 13
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Problem 4: What is the probability of drawing a card which is neither
red nor a face card?
Solution:
Here, E is event of drawing a neither red nor a face card
Total number of outcomes in a deck n(S) = 52
Number of favorable outcomes = n(E) = drawing neither red nor a face card
from deck.
Total red cards = 26
There is total 12 face cards in a deck, but 6 red face cards are already
removed. So remaining face cards = 12 – 6 = 6
n(E) = 26 + 6 = 32
P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 32/ 52
P(E) = 8 / 13
 Discrete Probability
What is the probability of sequentially drawing 2 diamonds from a deck of
regular playing cards when the first card is not replaced? What is the
probability of sequentially drawing 2 diamonds from a deck of regular playing
cards when the first card is not replaced?

The probability of drawing a diamond first is 13/52=14

The probabilty of drawing a diamond second when the first card is not
replaced is 12/51.
To determine the probability of 2 INDEPENDENT events, we multiply them.
P=14⋅12/51=12/204=1/17

Probability of drawing a neither red nor a face card= 8 / 13

Problem 5: What is the probability of drawing two cards from a deck of

cards with replacement when the first card is heart and second card is
diamond?
Solution:
Probability of drawing first card as heart = 13 / 52
After drawing first card, the card is removed.
Probability of drawing second card as diamond = 13 / 51
Probability of drawing first card as heart and second as diamond = (13 / 52)
× (13 / 51)

Three friends play marbles each week. When they combine their marbles, they
have 100 in total. 45 of the marbles are new and the rest are old. 30 are red, 20
are green, 25 are yellow, and the rest are white. What is the probability that a
randomly chosen marble is new OR yellow?

Explanation:
Prob(new OR yellow) = P(new) + P(yellow) - P(new AND yellow)
Prob(new) =
Prob(yellow) =
Prob(new AND yellow) =
so P(new OR yellow) =

At a school fair, there are 25 water balloons. 10 are yellow, 8 are red, and 7 are
green. You try to pop the balloons. Given that you first pop a yellow balloon,
what is the probability that the next balloon you hit is also yellow?
 Discrete Probability

At the start, there are 25 balloons and 10 of them are yellow. You hit a
yellow balloon. Now there are 9 yellow balloons left out of 24 total balloons,
so the probability of hitting a yellow next is
9/24=3/8.

Flight A is on time for 93% of flights. Flight B is on time for 89% of flights.
Flight A and B are both on time 87% of the time. What is the probabiity that at
least one flight is on time?

P(Flight A is on time) = 0.93

P(Flight B is on time) = 0.89
P(Flights A and B are on time) = 0.87
Then P(A OR B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A AND B) = 0.93 + 0.89 – 0.87 = 0.95

A bag has 7 blue balls and 3 red balls. 2 balls are to be drawn successively
and without replacement. What is the probability that the first ball is red and
the second ball is blue?

We first have 7 blue and 3 red out of 10, so P(1st ball is red) = 3/10. Now,
we have pulled a red ball out of the bag, leaving us with 7 blue and 2 red out
of 9 total balls. Then P(2nd ball is blue) = 7/9. Put this together, P(1st red
AND 2nd blue) = 3/10⋅7/9=7/30.

A red die and a white die are rolled. What is the probability of getting a 4 on
the red die AND an odd sum of numbers on the two dice?

here are 36 possible combinations of the two dice: (1, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3),...,(1, 6); (2, 1),
(2, 2), (2, 3),...; ....; (6, 1), ..., (6, 6). Getting a 4 on the red die can happen 6 different
ways: (4, 1), (4, 2), (4, 3), (4, 4), (4, 5), and (4, 6). So P(4 on red die)=6/36=16.
Now, getting an odd sum on the dice can happen 18 different ways: (1, 2), (1, 4), (1,
6), (2, 1), (2, 3), (2, 5), (3, 2), (3, 4), (3, 6), (4, 1), (4, 3), (4, 5), (5, 2), (5, 4), (5, 6), (6,
1), (6, 3), and (6, 5). So P(odd sum) =18/36=12.
Putting them together, P(4 on red AND odd sum) =16⋅12=112.
Two fair dice are tossed. What is the probability that the dice will add up to a
prime number?

The prime numbers that can be rolled are 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11. The rolls that
result in one of these numbers, out of a possible 6 ⋅6=36 rolls, are:
2:(1,1)
3:(1,2),(2,1)
5:(1,4),(2,3),(3,2),(4,1)
7:(1,6),(2,5),(3,4),(4,3),(5,2),(6,1)
11:(5,6),(6,5)
 Discrete Probability
Therefore, there are 15 rolls out of 36 that result in a prime number, making
the probability of a prime result 15/36=5/12

Two fair six-sided dice are rolled. What is the probability that the sum is either
a perfect square or a perfect cube?

There are 36 possible rolls. The only perfect squares that can be rolled are 4
and 9; the only perfect cube that can be rolled is 8. So the roll must be one
of the following:
4:(1,3),(2,2),(3,1)
8:(2,6),(3,5),(4,4),(5,3),(6,2)
9:(3,6),(4,5),(5,4),(6,3)
This adds up to 12 rolls out of 36, for a probability of 12/36=13

Three coins are tossed at the same time. One of them is fair; two are loaded so
that each comes up heads with probability N. In terms of N, what is the
probability that the outcome will be three heads?

The probability that all three coins will come up heads is the product of the
individual probabilities:
1/2⋅N⋅/N=1/2N2=N2/2

One hundred marbles - each one red, yellow, blue, or green - are placed in a
box. Forty of the marbles are green, there are twice as many blue marbles as
there are red ones, and there are three times as many yellow marbles as red
ones. What is the probability that a randomly drawn marble will be yellow?

Let x be the number of red marbles. Then there are 2x blue marbles and 3x
yellow ones. Since there are 40 green marbles, and 100 marbles total, we
can write this equation, simplifying and solving for x:
x+2x+3x+40=100
6x+40=100
6x+40−40=100−40
6x=60
6x÷6=60÷6
x=10
Therefore, there are 3x=3 ⋅10=30 yellow marbles, and the probability of
drawing a yellow marble is 30/100=310
 Discrete Probability
Two eight-sided dice from a role-playing game are thrown. Each die is fair and
marked with the numbers 1 through 8. What is the probability that the sum of
the dice will be a multiple of 5?

There are 8⋅8=64 possible outcomes. The sum can be between 2 and 16
inclusive; we count the number of rolls that result in any of the possible
multiples of 5 - 5, 10, 15:

5:(1,4),(2,3),(3,2),(4,1)

10:(2,8),(3,7),(4,6),(5,5),(6,4),(7,3),(8,2)

15:(7,8),(8.7)
13 out of 64 outcomes result in a multiple of 3, so the probability is 13/64.

Three boxes contain marbles, each one either red or white.

Box 1 contains 20 red marbles and 10 white marbles.

Box 2 contains 30 red marbles and 10 white marbles.

Box 3 conatins 40 red marbles and 10 white marbles.

One of three boxes is selected at random, and one marble is selected from that
box at random. What is the probability that a white marble will be selected?

This is a conditional probability problem.

Each box can be selected with probability 13.

If Box 1 is selected, the probability of selecting a white marble is 10/30=1/3.

The overall probability of selecting Box 1, then a white marble, is 13 ⋅13=19.

If Box 2 is selected, the probability of selecting a white marble is 10/40=1/4.

The overall probability of selecting Box 2, then a white marble, is
13⋅14=1/12.

If Box 3 is selected, the probability of selecting a white marble is 10/50=15.

The overall probability of selecting Box 2, then a white marble, is
13⋅15=1/15.
 Discrete Probability
The overall probability of selecting a white marble is the sum of these
probabilities:
1/9+1/12+1/15=20/180+15/180+12/180=47/180

Jane has 20 toy cars. 8 of them are trucks and 12 are race cars. 5 are blue,
10 are green, 2 are orange, and 3 are red.What is the probability of having a
blue car OR a race car?

P(Blue Car OR Race Car) = P(Blue Car) + P(Race Car) - P(Blue Race Car)

P(Blue Car) =5/20

P(Race Car) =12/20

P(Blue Race Car)=5/20×12/20=1/4×3/5=3/20

So P(Blue Car OR Race Car) =5/20+12/20−3/20=(5+12−3)/20=14/20=7/10

Of 100 students accepted for a masters degree program this fall semester, 30
do not have any work experience, 10 have two years of work experience, 15
have four years of work experience, and all of the other students have over
seven years of work experience. What is the probability that a randomly
selected student in the 100 who have been accepted for the program will have
at least four years of work experience?

The number of students who have over seven years of experience is:

100−30−10−15=100−55=45

The probability that a randomly selected student has at least four years of
experience is:

Formula

Substituting in our values for these variables, we get:

15+45/100=60/100=0.6

John alters a fair coin so that the probability of it coming up heads is 5%

greater than that of it coming up tails. By how much has he increased the
probability of it coming up heads?

The probablilty of a fair coin coming up heads is 12.

 Discrete Probability
If the coin is altered as in the problem, then the odds of the coin coming up
heads as opposed to tails are 105 to 100; restated, the probability of it
coming up heads is

105/205=21/41

John has increased the probability of the coin coming up heads by

21/41−1/2=42/82−41/82=1/82

Marianna inserts the joker into a standard deck of 52 cards. By how much has
she decreased the probability that a card drawn at random from the deck will
be an ace?

The probability that a card, randomly drawn from a standard deck of 52

cards without the joker, is an ace (or any other given rank) is 4/52=1/13; if
the joker is added, the probability decreases to 4/53. The decrease in
probability is
1/13−4/53=1/689

Judy alters a fair six-sided die so that a roll of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 are still equally
likely, but a roll of 6 is 5% more likely than any one of the other rolls.By how
much has she increased the probability of rolling a 6?

The probability of rolling a 6 with a fair die is 1/6.

Since a roll of 6 is 5% more likely than any one of the other rolls, and the other rolls
are equally probable, then, theoretically, there should be 105 rolls of 6 for every 100
rolls of 5, 100 rolls of 4, etc. - that is, 105 out of 605, rolls should theoretically be a 6.
This makes the probability of rolling a 6 on the altered die

105/605=21/121.

Therefore, Judy's alteration has increased the probability of rolling a 6 by

21/121−1/6=5/726

Carla alters a fair six-sided die so that a roll of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 are still equally
likely, but a roll of 6 is 4% more likely than any one of the other five outcomes.

By how much has she decreased the probability of rolling a 5?

The probability of rolling a 5 with a fair die is 1/6.

Since a roll of 6 on the altered die is 4% more likely than any one of the other rolls,
and the other rolls are equally probable, then, theoretically, there should be 104 rolls
of 6 for every 100 rolls of 5, 100 rolls of 4, etc. Consequently, 100 out of 604 rolls
 Discrete Probability
should theoretically result in a 5. This makes the probability of rolling a 5 on the
altered die

100/604=25/151.

Therefore, Pilar's alteration has decreased the probability of rolling a 5 by

16−25/151=1/906

A card is drawn at random from a deck of fifty-two cards (no jokers). What is
the probability of drawing a diamond, a card with an even number, or a card
with a number divisible by three?

First, consider the probability of each individual event: drawing a diamond, an

even number, or a number divisible by three.

Drawing a diamond, there are four suits, so:

P(D)=14

Drawing an even number, there are five possible values [2,4,6,8,10] present in
each thirteen-card suit, so:

P(E)=513

Drawing a number divisible by three, there are three possible values [3,6,9]
present in each thirteen-card suit, so

P(3)=313

This problem deals with a union of probabilities, essentially a "this or that"

option; however, since there are three events considered, the formula for the
union follows the form:
 Discrete Probability
P(A⋃B⋃C)=P(A)+P(B)+P(C)−P(A⋂B)−P(A⋂C)−P(B⋂C)+P(A⋂B⋂C)

The probability of drawing an even number that is also a diamond is:

5/52

The probability of drawing a diamond that is divisible by three is:

3/52

The probability of drawing an even number that is divisible by three is:

1/13

And the probability of drawing a number that is a diamond, even, and divisble by
three is:
1/52
Therefore, the probability of this union is:
13+20+12−5−3−4+1/52=34/52=17/26