Name:__________________________________________ Date: _______________ Period: __________
CHS Statistics
3.1 - 3.2 Practice Problems
1. Determine which of the following numbers could not represent the probability of an event.
a. 0
b. 0.001
c. -1
d. 50%
745
e 1262
45
f. 31
2. Use your own words to describe the law of large numbers.
3. Identify the sample space of the following.
a) Tossing a coin three times.
b) Determining a person’s blood type (A, B, AB, O) and Rh-factor (positive, negative)
4. In a Bruskin-Goldring Research poll, respondents were asked how a fruitcake should be used. One
hundred thirty-two respondents indicated that it should be used for a doorstop, and 880 other
respondents cited other uses including birdfeed, landfill, and a gift. If one of these respondents is
randomly selected, what is the probability of getting someone who would use the fruitcake as a
doorstop?
5. Use the picture of the spinner and find the probability that the spinner stops at each of the
following:
a) A 5 or a 2: _________
b) Any number 1 – 5: _________
6. Determine if the following are true or false:
a) If you roll a six-sided die six times, you will roll an even number at least once.
b) You flip a fair coin nine times and it lands tails up each time. The probability it will land
heads up on the tenth flip is greater than 0.5.
7. The access code for a garage door consists of three digits. Each digit can be 0 through 9 and each
digit can be repeated.
a) Find the number of possible access codes.
b) What is the probability of randomly selecting the correct access code?
c) What is the probability of not selecting the correct access code?
8. A study of credit card fraud was conducted by Master Card International, and the accompanying
table is based on the results. If one case of credit card fraud is randomly selected from the cases
summarized in the table, find the probability that the fraud resulted from a counterfeit card.
Method of Fraud
Stolen Card
Counterfeit Card
Mail/phone order
Other
Frequency
243
85
52
46
9. You wanted to buy a racehorse named Median. Median is entered in a race in which the actual
probability of winning is 3/17.
a) Find the actual odds against Median winning.
b) If the payoff odds are listed as 4:1, how much profit do you make if you bet $4
and Median wins?
10. A roulette wheel has 38 slots. One slot is 0, another is 00, and the others are numbered 1
through 36. You are placing a bet that the outcome is an odd number.
a) What is the probability of winning?
b) What are the actual odds against winning?
c) When you bet that the outcome is an odd number, the payoffs are 1:1. How much
profit do you make if you bet $18 and win?
d) How much profit would you make on the $18 bet if you could somehow convince the
casino to change its payoff odds so that they are the same as the actual odds against
winning?