Mathematics Assignment I (CC/CS/IT)

1. A five figure number is formed by the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 without repetition. Find the
probability that the number formed is divisible by 4.
a, b, c ax 2 bx c 0
2. The coefficients of the quadratic equation are obtained by rolling
a die three times. What is the probability that the equation has real roots?
3. A table has three identical drawers. In one drawer, there are two gold coins. In the
second, there are 2 silver coins, and in the third, one silver coin and one gold coin are
kept. Suppose a drawer is pulled at random and a coin is taken out at random. If this
coin proves to be a gold coin, what is the probability that the coin in the drawer is also
gold?
4. A jar of water initially contains a single bacterium. Every minute, each bacterium in
the water either divides into two, with probability 3/4, or dies, with probability 1/4.
What is the probability that the family of bacteria survives forever?
5. Two absent-minded roommates A and B, mathematicians, forget their umbrellas in
some way or another. A always takes his umbrella when he goes out, while B forgets
his with probability 1/2. Each of them forgets his umbrella at a shop with probability
1/4. After visiting three shops, they return home. Find the probability that:
a. they have both umbrellas;
b. they have only one umbrella;
c. B has lost his umbrella, given that there is only one umbrella after their return.
6. It is suspected that a patient has one of the diseases A, B, C. The population
percentages suffering from these diseases are in the ratio 2:1:1. The patient is given a
test which turns out to be in 25% of the cases of A, 50% of B, and 90% of C. Given
that out of three tests taken by the patient, two were positive, Find the probability for
each of the three illnesses.
7. An urn contains n balls number 1, 2, , n. We select at random, r balls (a) with
replacement; (b) without replacement. What is the probability that the largest selected
number is m?
n n
8. A secretary is asked to place different letters in addressed envelopes. If she places
the letters randomly in the envelopes, show that the probability that no letter is placed
1/ e n
in its proper envelope is approximately (for large ).
9. For any two events A and B, show that:
P(AB) P(A)P(B) = P(A')P(B) P(A'B) = P(A)P(B') P(AB').
A B P( A) 2 / 3 P( B) 3 / 4
10. If and are events in a sample space with and , show that:
P ( A B) 3 / 4
a. .
 5 / 12 P ( AB ) 2 / 3
b. .