Questions

(1) A fruit bowl has 6 apples and 4 oranges. If one piece of fruit is selected at
random and then a second piece of fruit is selected at random, what are the
chances that both pieces of fruit will be apples?
(2) Golden Hoof (GH) is twice as likely to win a horse race than Silver
Saddle (SS) and Silver Saddle is twice as likely to win as Chomping-at-theBit (CB). If only the 3 horses are in the race, what is the probability that Golden
Hoof will not win?
(3) Given a hand containing the nine numbered hearts from a deck of cards
[2 to 9, with Ace counting as one (1)] what is the probability of drawing three
cards in sequence from the hand such that each selection results in a number
larger than the previous one?
(4) What are the odds against rolling a seven with a single throw of a pair of dice
[2 dice]?
(5) There are six men and twelve women. Half of the men have gray hair and so
do half of the women. What are the chances that a person chosen at random will
be a man, a person with gray hair or both?
(6) How many dice must be thrown to give a better than 50% chance that at least
one of the dice will show a one (1) (a single "snake eye")?
(7) If the chances of a golfer being struck by lightning on a rainy day are one-ina-million, if it rains an average of three days per week and if you play golf every
Saturday & Sunday rain or shine what are your chances of being struck by
lightning in a given week? (Assume lightning only strikes on rainy days.)
(8) How many ways can Alice, Ben, Charles and Danile arrange themselves
around a square table? How many ways can they arrange themselves around a
circular table?
(9) How many arrangements of rider & driver are there if Alice, Ben, Charlie
and Danile pair up on Danile's motorcycle one person driving and one
person riding behind the driver while holding on?

(10) If there are 6 contestants in a contest, in how many potential ways can 1st,
2nd and 3rd prize be awarded?
(11) One person per hundred people has infectious foot-in-mouth disease. The
probability of a person with infectious foot-in-mouth disease testing positive is
9/10 and the probability of a person who does not have infectious foot-in-mouth
disease testing positive is 2/10. What is the probability that a person who tests
positive has the disease?
(12) If two dice are rolled three times, what is the probability that the two dice
will match (i.e., display the same number) on one of the three rolls?
(13) There are two hands of cards, one consisting of nine hearts numbered 1 to 9
(ace is 1) and another hand consisting of five diamonds numbered 1 to 5. If there
is an equal chance of choosing a card from either hand, what is the probability
that an even card will be a heart?
(14) If a single die (one "dice") is rolled three times, what is the probability that
each roll will result in a number larger than the previous roll?
(15) If three dice are thrown (rolled), what are the odds against rolling a total of
10?
(16) Out of five men and five women, how many ways are there to form a
committee consisting of three women and two men ?
(17) How many different poker hands (5 cards) are possible with a standard 52card deck?
(18) If 5 cards are drawn from a deck consisting of only the 13 hearts from a 52card deck, what is the probability of getting all of the face cards (King, Queen
and Jack)?
(19) What is the probability of getting a "full house" in five cards drawn in a
poker game from a standard 52-card deck? [A full house consists of 3 cards of
the same kind (e.g., 3 Queens) and 2 cards of another kind (eg, 2 Aces).]
(20) What is the probability of getting a "pair" in five cards drawn in a poker
game from a standard 52-card deck? [A pair consists of 2 cards of the same kind
(eg, 2 Queens) and 3 cards that are different from the kind of the pair (eg,
different from Queens) and that are all different from each other.]

Answers
(1) A fruit bowl has 6 apples and 4 oranges. If one piece of fruit is selected at
random and then a second piece of fruit is selected at random, what are the
chances that both pieces of fruit will be apples?
There are six chances in ten that the first choice is an apple. With 5 apples and 4
oranges left in the bowl, there are five chances in nine that the second choice is
an apple. The product of the two choices is:
6
5
30
1
--- X --- = --- = --- (one chance in three)
10
9
90
3

(2) Golden Hoof (GH) is twice as likely to win a horse race than Silver
Saddle (SS) and Silver Saddle is twice as likely to win as Chomping-at-theBit (CB). If only the 3 horses are in the race, what is the probability that Golden
Hoof will not win?
If the chance that CB will win is 1 then the chance that SS will win is 2 and for
GH it is 4. If GH has 4 out of a total of 4 + 2 + 1 = 7 chances of winning, that
means 3 out of 7 = 3/7 chances of not winning.

(3) Given a hand containing the nine numbered hearts from a deck of cards
[2 to 9, with Ace counting as one (1)] what is the probability of drawing three
cards in sequence from the hand such that each selection results in a number
larger than the previous one?
There are six possible permutations of any three different numbers. Only one of
those permutations will be strictly increasing. Therefore, there is only one chance
in six (1/6) that any sequential selection of three cards will be strictly increasing.
Note that the size of the hand makes no difference to the answer as long as the
hand contains three or more cards. Any three distinct numbers have 6 distinct
arrangements.

(4) What are the odds against rolling a seven with a single throw of a pair of dice
[2 dice]?
There are 6 x 6 = 36 possible outcomes, but only the following 6 outcomes
produces totals to seven:
1,6 2,5 3,4
6,1 5,2 4,3
That means that there are 36 - 6 = 30 ways in which the two dice can not roll a
seven. Therefore, the odds against rolling a seven are 30-to-6 or (reducing) 5-to-1

(5) There are six men and twelve women. Half of the men have gray hair and so
do half of the women. What are the chances that a person chosen at random will
be a man, a person with gray hair or both?
One third of the people are men and half have gray hair
1
1
5
--- + --- = --3
2
6
But this will double-count men with gray hair (who are in both categories). Three
of the eighteen (1/6) are men with gray hair, so
5
1
2
--- - --- = --6
6
3
is the chance that a person chosen at random with be either a man or a person
with gray hair or both.
A simpler solution is to exclude women without grey hair (6/18 excluded, so
12/18 = 2/3 are to be counted.)

(6) How many dice must be thrown to give a better than 50% chance that at least
one of the dice will show a one (1) (a single "snake eye")?
If one die is thrown, the chances of not rolling a one (1) are

5
--- = 0.8333
6
If two dice are thrown, the chances of not rolling a one (1) are
5
5
--- X -- = 0.6944
6
6
If three dice are thrown, the chances of not rolling a one (1) are
5
5
5
--- X -- X -- = 0.5787
6
6
6
If four dice are thrown, the chances of not rolling a one (1) are
5
5
5
5
--- X -- X -- X -- = 0.4823
6
6
6
6
So four dice give better than even chance (over 50% chance) of rolling a one (1).
To view the problem in another way, note that the probability of rolling a one (1)
is 1/6, ie, P(one) = 1/6. If you roll a die ("one dice") 60 times you will, on average,
get 10 ones (1s). But that does not mean that if you roll a die 6 times that you will
have to wait until the 6th roll to get the first one (1). Because 3/6 = 1/2 it might
seem that on average the first one (1) would appear halfway between the first
and the sixth roll:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
but the middle is between the 3rd and the 4th!

(7) If the chances of a golfer being struck by lightning on a rainy day are one-ina-million, if it rains an average of three days per week and if you play golf every
Saturday & Sunday rain or shine what are your chances of being struck by
lightning in a given week? (Assume lightning only strikes on rainy days.)

If it rains three times weekly and the probability of a golfer getting hit by
lightning on a rainy day is one-in-a-million, then the probability of getting hit by
lightning would be 3-in-a-million for a golfer who played every day. For a golfer
who only plays 2 days per week, it is necessary to multiply by 2/7:
2
3
1
--- X -------- = -----------7
million 1,166,666

(8) How many ways can Alice, Ben, Charles and Danile arrange themselves
around a square table? How many ways can they arrange themselves around a
circular table?
There are 24 arrangements (24 permutations) of 4 people on 4 different sides of a
square table:
ABCD
ABDC
ACBD
ACDB
ADBC
ADCB

BACD
BADC
BCAD
BCDA
BDAC
BDCA

CABD
CADB
CBAD
CBDA
CDAB
CDBA

DABC
DACB
DBAC
DBCA
DCAB
DCBA

For a circular table there are an infinite number of arrangements if exact

position in space matters e.g., that Danile can sit on the North side ot the
table, the East side or at any of the infinite number of positions in between. If the
only thing that matters is the relative position of each person (who is sitting next
to whom), then the position of Danile is arbitrary and there are 6 arrangement
(permutations) of the other 3 people in relation to Danile:
ABC
ACB
BAC
BCA
CAB
CBA
In this analysis there is no difference between Danile sitting on the SouthWest
side, the NorthEast side or the North by NorthWest side all that matters is the

relative positions of the others. If Ben sits to Danile's right, then if Alice sits to
Ben's right, the arrangement will be BAC with Charlie to the left of Danile.

(9) How many arrangements of rider & driver are there if Alice, Ben, Charlie
and Danile pair up on Danile's motorcycle one person driving and one
person riding behind the driver while holding on?
Assuming that Danile has extra pink motorcycle helmets that she can lend to
other drivers & riders, there are 12 possible permutations (the person on the left
being the driver and the one on the right being the rider):
AB AC AD BC BD CD
BA CA DA CB DB DC
Or, more simply, after one of 4 possible drivers are selected, one of 3 possible
riders can be selected: 4 x 3 = 12

(10) If there are 6 contestants in a contest, in how many potential ways can 1st,
2nd and 3rd prize be awarded?
Using the same logic as in the previous problem, after one of six contestants is
selected for 1st prize and one of five contestants is selected for 2nd prize, then
one of four contestants is left for 3rd prize: 6 x 5 x 4 = 120

(11) One person per hundred people has infectious foot-in-mouth disease. The
probability of a person with infectious foot-in-mouth disease testing positive is
9/10 and the probability of a person who does not have infectious foot-in-mouth
disease testing postive is 2/10. What is the probability that a person who tests
positive has the disease?
Probability of having the disease and testing positive: 9/10
Probability of NOT having the disease and testing positive: 2/10
Probability of having the disease: 1/100
Probability of NOT having the disease: 99/100

Probability of having the disease x Probability of having the disease and testing
positive = 1/100 x 9/10 = 9/1,000
Probability of NOT having the disease x Probability of NOT having the disease
and testing positive = 99/100 x 2/10 = 198/1,000
Probability of testing positive = 9/1,000 + 198/1,000 = 207/1,000
Therefore, probability of having the disease if test positive:
9 / 1,000
---------------- =
207 / 1,000

9
1
-------- = ----207
23

Another way to view this problem is to imagine:

Of 1,000 people, 10 have the disease and 990 do NOT have the disease
9 of the 10 test positive ------------ and 198 of the 990 test positive
Therefore 9 of the 9+198=207 people who test positive have the disease.

(12) If two dice are rolled three times, what is the probability that the two dice
will match (ie, display the same number) on one of the three rolls?
This problem is similar to problem (6). The chance of one of of the dice matching
any arbitrary number is the same as the chance that it will match some
particular number, such as the one (1) in problem (6). The probability of
matching is the complement of the probability of not matching on three rolls:
5
5
5
1 - -- X -- X -- = 1 - 0.5787 = 0.4213
6
6
6

(13) There are two hands of cards, one consisting of nine hearts numbered 1 to 9
(ace is 1) and another hand consisting of five diamonds numbered 1 to 5. If there
is an equal chance of choosing a card from either hand, what is the probability
that an even card will be a heart?

There are four even hearts {2,4,6,8} and two even diamonds {2,4} so the chances
of getting an even heart is
1
4
2
--- X --- = --2
9
9
and the chances of getting an even diamond is
1
2
1
--- X --- = --2
5
5
The total chances of getting an even card is
2
1
10
9
19
--- + --- = --- + --- = --9
5
45
45
45
Therefore, the chance that an even card is a heart will be the chance of getting an
even heart (2/9) divided by the chance of getting an even card (19/45), which
equals 10/19.

(14) If a single die (one "dice") is rolled three times, what is the probability that
each roll will result in a number larger than the previous roll?
There are 6 x 6 x 6 = 216 possible outcomes, but only the following 20 outcomes
produces the desired result:
1,2,3
1,2,4
1,2,5
1,2,6
1,3,4

1,3,5
1,3,6
1,4,5
1,4,6
1,5,6

2,3,4
2,3,5
2,3,6
2,4,5
2,4,6

2,5,6
3,4,5
3,4,6
3,5,6
4,5,6

20
5
---- = ---- = 0.09259
216 54

(15) If three dice are thrown (rolled), what are the odds against rolling a total of
10?
There are 6 x 6 x 6 = 216 possible outcomes, but only the following 27 outcomes
produces the desired result:
1,3,6
1,4,5
1,5,4
1,6,3
2,2,6

2,3,5
2,4,4
2,5,3
2,6,2
3,1,6

3,2,5
3,3,4
3,4,3
3,5,2
3,6,1

4,1,5
4,2,4
4,3,3
4,4,2
4,5,1

5,1,4 6,2,2
5,2,3 6,3,1
5,3,2
5,4,1
6,1,3

27
1
---- = ---216
8
1
1
------ = ---8-1
7
The odds are 7-to-1 against rolling a ten.

(16) Out of five men and five women, how many ways are there to form a
committee consisting of three women and two men ?
There are ten ways (ten combinations) to choose three women from five and there
are ten ways to choose two men from five, therefore there are 10 X 10 = 100
different committees that could be formed when any of the groups of three
women can be paired with any of the groups of two men.
Visually:
ABCDE (women)
ABC
ABD
ABE
ACD
ACE
ADE
BCD
BCE
BDE

FGHIJ (men)
FG
FH
FI
FJ
GH
GI
GJ
HI
HJ

CDE

IJ

(17) How many different poker hands (5 cards) are possible with a standard 52card deck?
Because the order of the cards does not matter, this question is asking for the
number of combinations (not permutations) of five different objects selected
from 52 objects. Using the mathematical formula for combinations:
52!
------------5!(52 - 5)!

52!
= ------- = 2,598,960 combinations
5! 47!

(18) If 5 cards are drawn from a deck consisting of only the 13 hearts from a 52card deck, what is the probability of getting all of the face cards (King, Queen
and Jack)?
The total number of hands possible is the number of combinations of 5 cards
selected from 13 cards, ie,
13!
------------5!(13 - 5)!

13!
= ------- = 1,287 combinations
5! 8!

There is only one way of selecting 3 face cards from 13, but there are 45 ways of
selecting 2 different cards from the remaining 10:
10!
------------5!(10 - 2)!

10!
= ------- = 45 combinations
2! 8!

45
5
------- = ---- = 0.034965
1,287 143

(19) What is the probability of getting a "full house" in five cards drawn in a
poker game from a standard 52-card deck? [A full house consists of 3 cards of
the same kind (eg, 3 Queens) and 2 cards of another kind (eg, 2 Aces).]
There are 6 ways to select 2 aces from the 4 aces in the deck (ie,
6 possible combinations) and there are 13 different kinds of cards, so the total
number of combinations possible of 2 cards is 6 x 13 = 78. There are 4 ways to
choose 3 Queens from 4 Queens, but because the 3-of-a-kind suit must be
different from the 2-of-a-kind suit, the possible combinations of the 3-of-a-kind
must be taken from the 12 remaining cards, ie, 4 x 12 = 48. Thus, the total
number of combinations of 2-of-a-kind and 3-of-a-kind are 48 x 78 = 3,744. To
find the probability of a full house one must divide the number of combinations
resulting in a full house by the total number of combinations determined in
question (17):
3,744
6
------------- = ------- = 0.00144
2,598,560
4,165

(20) What is the probability of getting a "pair" in five cards drawn in a poker
game from a standard 52-card deck? [A pair consists of 2 cards of the same kind
(eg, 2 Queens) and 3 cards that are different from the kind of the pair (eg,
different from Queens) and that are all different from each other.]
As in question (19) there are 6 ways to select 2 aces from the 4 aces in the deck
(ie, 6 possible combinations) and there are 13 different kinds of cards, so the total
number of combinations possible of 2 cards is 6 x 13 = 78. There are 48 possible
choices for the 3rd card, 44 possible choices for the 4th card and 40 possible
choices for the 5th card, but the these last 3 cards can be chosen in any order, so
it is necessary to divide by the number of permutations possible for 3 cards ie,
divide by 3! = 6:
78x48x44x40
------------------ = 1,098,240 combinations resulting in pairs
3!
To find the probability of a pair one must divide the number of combinations
resulting in a pair by the total number of combinations determined in
question (17):
1,098,240
352
------------- = ------- = 0.42257
2,598,560
833