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588
CHAPTER 33
The best way of solving problems like this is to work with overall totals.
The following example shows you how.
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EXAMPLE
Suppose 5 people have a mean age of 26. They meet a friend who is aged 32.
Work out the mean age of all 6 people.
SOLUTION
The total age of the 5 people is 26 5 130.
The sixth person is aged 32, so the total age of all 6 people is 130 32 162.
162
Therefore the mean age for all 6 people is 27.
6
This method is also useful for finding the combined mean of two unequal-sized
groups.
EXAMPLE
An office employs 12 men and 18 women. The mean age of the 12 men is
33.5 years. The mean age of the 18 women is 29 years. Work out the mean age
of all 30 men and women.
SOLUTION
The total age of the men is 12 33.5 402.
The total age of the women is 18 29 522.
The total age of all 30 people is 402 522 924.
924
Therefore the mean age of all 30 people is 30.8
30
EXERCISE 33.1
1 5 babies have a mean weight of 8 kg. Another baby has a weight of 14 kg. Work out the mean weight of all
6 babies.
2 6 cats have a mean weight of 7 kg. 9 dogs have a mean weight of 12 kg. Work out the mean weight of all
15 animals.
3 There are 11 players in a cricket team. 5 of the players have a mean score of 27 runs. The other 6 players
have a mean score of 32.5 runs. Find the mean score for all 11 players.
5 Billy is measuring the lengths of ten steel rods. He measures them in two batches of 5. The mean length of
the first 5 rods is 12.2 cm. The mean length of the second 5 rods is 12.8 cm.
12.2 12.8
Billy says, ‘The mean length of all ten rods is 12.5.’
2
Explain carefully whether Billy is right or wrong.
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6 The mean age of the 15 children in Class 2W is 11 years. When their teacher is included the mean
increases to 13 years. Work out the age of the teacher.
7 Jim has taken 5 Mathematics examination papers, and has a mean score of 78 marks. How many marks
does he need to score in the sixth paper, in order for his overall mean to increase to 80?
8 Nina plays 15 holes on a golf course. The mean number of strokes it takes her to complete the 15 holes is
3.6. She then plays another 3 holes. The mean number of strokes for all 18 holes is 4. Calculate Nina’s
mean score for the last 3 holes.
Sometimes you will need to adjust the second set of probabilities, depending on
the outcome from the first set. It sounds complicated, but the next example will
show you how this is done.
EXAMPLE
A school choir is made up of 6 girls and 4 boys. The school’s music teacher
chooses, at random, two members of the choir to look after the sheet music.
a) Draw a tree diagram to illustrate this information.
b) Use your tree diagram to work out the probability that the teacher chooses
two boys.
SOLUTION
a)
To begin with, there are six girls out of 10,
6
5
Girl so this probability is 10.
9
6 Girl
4
10 There are four boys, so this probability is 10.
4 Boy
9
By this stage, one girl has now been selected. So there are five
5
Girl remaining girls out of nine to select, giving a probability of 9.
4
10
Boy
4
There are still four boys available, so this is 9.
Boy
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5
Girl
9
6 Girl
10
4 Boy
9
6 Here, one boy has been selected instead. So there are only
Girl
9 3
4 three remaining boys out of nine, giving a probability of 9,
10 3
Boy and six remaining girls, giving a probability of 9.
3
Boy
9
EXAMPLE
My bookcase contains ten novels and six science books. I choose two books at
random. Find the probability that they are both the same type of book.
SOLUTION
The tree diagram shows the various possibilities. 9
Novel
15
10 Novel
16
6 Science
15
10
Novel
15
6
16
From the tree diagram: Science
10 9 90 5
Probability (two novels) 15
Science
16 15 240
6 5 30
Probability (two science) Both novels OR both science.
16 15 240
90 30 120 1 OR means ADD the probabilities.
Therefore, probability (both the same)
240 240 240 2
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EXERCISE 33.2
1 A bag contains ten coloured discs. Four of the discs are red and six of the discs are black.
Asif is going to take two discs at random from the bag, without replacement.
… Red
… Red
… Black
… Red
… Black
… Black
2 In a class of 12 students, nine use black pens and three use blue pens. Two students are chosen at random.
a) Illustrate the situation with a tree diagram.
b) Calculate the probability that both students use black pens.
c) Calculate the probability that both students use the same colour pen.
3 A bag contains ten red balls and five black balls. Two balls are chosen, without replacement.
a) Draw a tree diagram to show this information.
b) Calculate the probability that the two balls are different colours.
4 In a class there are ten girls and eight boys. Three children are chosen at random from the class. Work out
the probability that all three children are girls.
5 A box contains 12 red pencils, five green pencils and three blue pencils. Two pencils are chosen, without
replacement.
a) Draw a tree diagram to show this information.
b) Calculate the probability that the two pencils are the same colour.
6 In a freezer there are 12 iced lollies. There are six orange lollies, four cola lollies and two strawberry
lollies. Two lollies are chosen at random.
a) Draw a tree diagram to show this information.
b) Find the probability that both lollies are cola.
c) Work out the probability that the two lollies are different flavours.
7 16 students attend a ‘calculator allowed’ mathematics exam. Ten of the students have solar-powered
calculators, and the other six have battery-powered calculators.
a) Two of the 16 students are chosen at random. Find the probability that they both have battery-powered
calculators.
b) Three of the 16 students are chosen at random. Find the probability that they all have solar-powered
calculators.
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REVIEW EXERCISE 33
1 27 boys and 34 girls took the same test.
The mean mark of the boys was 76. The mean mark of the girls was 82.
Calculate the mean mark of all these students. Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place. [Edexcel]
2 A shop employs eight men and two women. The mean weekly wage of the ten employees is £396.
The mean weakly wage of the 8 men is £400.
Calculate the mean weekly wage of the 2 women. [Edexcel]
3 a) A youth club has 60 members. 40 of the members are boys. 20 of the members are girls.
The mean number of videos watched last week by all 60 members was 2.8.
The mean number of videos watched last week by the 40 boys was 3.3.
Calculate the mean number of videos watched last week by the 20 girls.
b) Ibrahim has two lists of numbers. The mean of the numbers in the first list is p. The mean of the
numbers in the second list is q. Ibrahim combines the two lists into one new list of numbers.
pq
Ibrahim says, ‘The mean of the new list of numbers is equal to .’
2
One of two conditions must be satisfied for Ibrahim to be correct.
Write down each of these conditions. [Edexcel]
4 The table shows the number of students in three groups attending Maths City High School last Monday.
No student belonged to more than one group.
Group Number of students
A 135
B 225
C 200
Mrs Allen carried out a survey about the students’ travelling times from home to school last Monday.
Mrs Allen worked out that:
• The mean time for Group A students was 24 minutes.
• The mean time for Group B students was 32 minutes.
• The mean time for Group C students was the same as the mean time for all 560 students.
a) Work out the mean time for all 560 students.
Mrs Allen interviewed some of these students. She used a stratified sample of 50 students according to
each group.
b) Work out the number of students from each group which should have been in her sample of 50.
[Edexcel]
5 Robin has 20 socks in a drawer. Twelve of the socks are red. Six of the socks are blue. Two of the socks
are white. He picks two socks at random from the drawer.
Calculate the probability that he chooses two socks of the same colour. [Edexcel]
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6 In a bag there are ten counters. Four of the counters are red and the rest of the counters are blue.
Ann and Betty are going to play a game.
Ann is going to remove two counters at random from the bag. She will not put them back.
If both counters are the same colour, Ann will win the game.
a) Calculate the probability that Ann will win the game.
If the counters are different colours, it will be Betty’s turn.
Betty will remove one counter at random from the 8 counters still in the bag.
If the counter is red, Betty will win the game. If the counter is blue, the result will be a draw.
b) Calculate the probability that the result will be a draw. [Edexcel]
7 The probability that Betty will be late for school tomorrow is 0.05.
The probability that Colin will be late for school tomorrow is 0.06.
The probability that both Betty and Colin will be late for school tomorrow is 0.011.
Fred says that the events ‘Betty will be late tomorrow’ and ‘Colin will be late tomorrow’ are
independent.
Justify whether Fred is correct or not. [Edexcel]
8 A bag contains three black beads, five red beads and two green beads.
Gianna takes a bead at random from the bag, records its colour and replaces it.
She does this two more times.
Work out the probability that, of the three beads Gianna takes, exactly two are the same colour. [Edexcel]
Key points
1 When finding the combined mean of two groups, work out the total score, age, etc. for
each group first, then add them together to get a total for the combined group. Study
the examples and exercises in the first part of this chapter to make sure you
understand the details of how this is done.
2 When using tree diagrams to solve probability problems, watch out for situations
where an object is selected and then not replaced before a second one is selected.
Tree diagrams should be drawn, with differing probabilities on the second set of
branches, according to what has happened on the first set of branches.
In the examination, read questions such as this carefully, to see whether the first
item has been replaced or not before the second is selected.
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Internet Challenge 33
Sunspot numbers
It is very dangerous to look directly at the Sun with even the smallest telescope, unless it is safely filtered.
With a properly filtered instrument, you can usually see some dark spots on the surface of the Sun. The
number of spots changes from day to day. Astronomers have been monitoring sunspot activity for several
hundred years.
The table below shows the average daily sunspot count for the years from 1950 onwards.
1 Type the data into a spreadsheet such as Excel. Use one long column for the years from 1950 to 2004,
and use the column alongside for the spot count data.
2 Use the Chart Wizard to make a graph showing spot count against year.
3 Now add another column to your spreadsheet. Fill each cell with the result of averaging three
consecutive values of the sunspot data, for example, the figure for 1951 is obtained by taking the
average of the three figures for 1950, 1951 and 1952. (These values are called moving averages.)
Note that the first data point will be for 1951 and the last for 2003.
Now use the internet to help find the answers to the following questions.