Probability/Statistics Student Module
1.
Suppose every student in a literature class may chose any two of the
nine books on the reading list. How many combinations of books may be
selected?
2.
Tamara wants to have a build-your-own sundae party to celebrate her
birthday. She wants to buy four different flavors of ice cream. The store
has 15 flavors available. In how many ways can she pick four flavors to serve
at her party?
3.
Robert has room to plant two varieties of tomatoes in the garden in
his back yard. He is considering five different varieties at the local nursery.
In how many ways can he choose two varieties from the five available?
4.
A restaurant serves four different kinds of soup: clam chowder,
vegetable, bean, and chicken noodle. How many different ways can the
restaurant arrange the soup listings on the menu?
5.
Rookmani enjoys entering sweepstakes and other contests. She knows
of five different contests going on right now, but only has three postage
stamps. In how many ways can she select three of the five contests to
enter?
6.
Police use photographs of various facial features to help witnesses
identify suspects. One basic identification kit contains 195 hairlines, 99
eyes with eyebrows, 89 noses, 105 mouths and 74 chins. The developer of
the kit claims that it can produce billions of different faces? Prove the
developer's claim.
7.
The standard configuration for a New York license is 3 digits followed
by 3 letters.
a.
How many different license plates are possible if digits and
letters can be repeated?
b.
How many different license plates are possible if digits cannot
be repeated?
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2
8.
Twelve skiers are competing in the final round of the Olympic
freestyle skiing aerial competition.
a.
In how many different ways can the skiers finish the
competition? (assume no ties.)
b.
In how many ways can three of the skiers finish first, second
and third to win the gold, silver and bronze medals.?
9.
You are considering 10 different colleges. Before you decide to apply
to the college you want to visit some or all of them. In how many orders can
you visit the following?
a.
6 of the colleges
b.
all 10 colleges
10.
A restaurant serves omelets that can be ordered with any of the
following ingredients:
Meats
Ham
Bacon
Sausage
Hamburger
Other Ingredients
Green Pepper
Red Pepper
Onion
Mushroom
Tomato
Cheese
Suppose you want exactly 1 meat ingredient and 2 other ingredients in your
omelet. How many different types of omelets can you order?
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2
11.
Mary planted 50 seeds. The results are listed below.
Failed to germinate
4
Eaten by insects
12
Eaten by snails
13
Knocked over the dog
3
Survived
18
a.
If Mary plants 200 seeds, how many seeds can she expect to be
eaten by snails?
b.
If Mary plants 150 seeds, how many survivors should she
expect?
c.
Based on Mary’s experience, how many seeds should she plant to
get 90 survivors?
d.
If Mary plants 120 seeds, how many seeds should she expect to
be eaten by either insects or snails?
12.
In 20 flips of a fair coin, the coin landed heads 13 times. Use this
information to answer the following.
a.
What is the experimental probability that the coin will land on
heads in a single flip of the coin?
b.
What is the experimental probability that the coin will land on
heads in a single flip of the coin?
c.
What is the theoretical probability that the coin will land on
heads in a single flip of the coin?
d.
What is the theoretical probability that the coin will land on
heads in a single flip of the coin?
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2
13.
Mark had 28 hits in his first 80 at-bats this season. Find the
probability that he will get a hit on his next time at-bat.
14.
A six-sided cube whose sides are numbered 1 to 6 is rolled.
a.
b.
c.
Find the probability of rolling a 4.
Find the probability of rolling an odd number.
Find the probability of rolling less than a 7.
15.
You put a CD that has 8 songs in your CD player. You set the player to
play the songs at random. The player plays all 8 songs without repeating any
song. What is the probability that the songs are played in the same order
they are listed on the CD?
16.
Austin has 24 baseball cards. Eight of the players are members of his
favorite team. If he selects one of the cards at random, what is the
probability he will select a player who is not on his favorite team.
17.
A raffle is held in which two lucky people will win a dinner at a local
restaurant and five other people will win a free ticket for a movie at the
town cinema.
a.
If 500 raffle tickets are sold, what is the probability of
winning a dinner?
b.
What is the probability of winning a cinema ticket?
c.
What is the probability of winning any prize?
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2
18.
Roberto puts his spare change in a glass jar. So far, the jar contains
3 quarters, 7 dimes, 5 nickels and 27 pennies.
a.
If Roberto reaches in the jar and pulls out a coin, what is the
probability that the coin will be a nickel?
b.
If Roberto reaches in the jar and pulls out a coin, put it back,
and then reaches in and pulls out another coin, what is the probability
that both coins will be nickels?
c.
If Roberto reaches in the jar and pulls out a coin, and then
reaches in and pulls out another coin, what is the probability that both
coins will be nickels?
19.
In a box, there are 7 blue marbles, 8 yellow marbles and 5 red
marbles.
20.
21.
a.
What is the probability of choosing a blue marble and then a
red one, if you do not replace the first marble?
b.
What is the probability of choosing a yellow marble and then a
blue marble, if you do replace the first marble?
Jerry has 8 blue socks and 6 green socks in his drawer.
a.
What is the probability that he pulls out a matching pair, if the
first sock was green?
b.
What is the probability that he pulls out a matching pair, if the
first sock was blue?
A coin is flipped three times.
a.
b.
Find P(three heads), if the coin is a fair coin.
Find P(three heads), if the coin is biased so that P(heads) on
any particular toss is 0.7.
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2
22.
An ordinary die is rolled twice. Let A be the event that the first roll
is a 5 or a 6 and let B be the event that the second roll is a 1, 2, or 3.
a.
Find P(A)
b.
Find P(B)
c.
Find P(A and B)
23.
In her rush to get to her job, Rosa forgets to take her umbrella about
30% of the time. If the weatherman says there is a 70% chance of rain,
what is the probability that it rains and she left the umbrella at home?
24.
The standard deviations of the free-throw percentages in the Eastern
Conference and Western Conference are given by 12.3 and 11.7 respectively.
Using this information explain the scatter of this data.
25.
In how many ways can 10 runners finish a race first, second and third?
a.
3
b.
10
c.
120
d.
720
26.
Which measurement is likely to be the most affected by an large
outlier in a set of data?
a.
b.
c.
d.
mean
median
mode
minimum
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2
27.
Which of the following activities is most likely to result in a
experimental probability closest to 1/2?
a.
Tossing a coin 10 times and calculating the probability of
getting a tail.
b.
Tossing a coin 100 times and calculating the probability of
getting a tail.
c.
Tossing a coin 1000 times and calculating the probability of
getting a tail.
d.
Tossing a coin 10000 times and calculating the probability of
getting a tail.
28.
A battery company discovers that the standard deviation on the life
of a new brand of batteries is very large. What is the most likely to be true
about the batteries?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Most of the batteries will last a short time.
Most of the batteries will last a long time.
There will be a lot of variety in the lifetimes of the batteries.
Most of the batteries will last about the same amount of time.
Some questions adapted from McDougal Littell’s Algebra 2