Probability worksheet — GCSE Foundation

1.Kwame flips a fair coin three times and writes down what it lands on each time. Work out the probability that it lands on heads all three times.

2.180 people entered a fun run. A frequency tree splits them into 108 adults and the rest children. It then splits each of those groups into those who finished and those who did not. 99 of the adults finished, and 153 of the 180 people finished altogether. Work out how many children did not finish.

3.At a school fete, each raffle ticket wins a prize, wins a voucher or wins nothing, and no ticket can win more than one of these. The probability that a ticket wins a prize is 0.4 and the probability that it wins a voucher is 0.35. Work out the probability that a ticket wins a prize or a voucher.

4.The probability that a seed fails to germinate is 1/5. Three seeds are planted independently. Work out the probability that at least one of the three seeds germinates.

5.A fair spinner is divided into 5 equal sections, 2 labelled win and 3 labelled lose. Zara spins it twice, and the two spins are independent. Work out the probability that she wins on the first spin and loses on the second spin.

6.Two games at a school fete are played independently. The probability of winning game X is 3/8. The probability of winning game Y is 0.4. Which statement correctly compares the two games?

7.On a probability scale from 0 to 1, the points impossible (0), unlikely (0.25), evens (0.5) and certain (1) are marked. An event has a probability of 0.3. Between which two neighbouring marked points does 0.3 lie?

8.A small pack contains 5 cards, numbered 1 to 5. One card is drawn at random from the pack, and a fair coin is flipped. Every outcome is listed as a pair, such as (3, H). Work out how many equally likely outcomes there are in total.

9.A box contains 1 white bead, 4 purple beads and 4 red beads. One bead is taken at random from the box. Work out the probability that the bead is white or purple.

10.A bag contains 5 yellow marbles and 3 blue marbles. Noah takes a marble at random, notes its colour and puts it back in the bag. He then takes a second marble at random. Work out the probability that the first marble is yellow and the second marble is blue.

11.A card is taken at random from an ordinary pack of 52 playing cards. The pack contains 4 aces and 4 kings. Work out the probability that the card is an ace or a king.

12.A survey asks 40 people whether they own a cat, a dog, both, or neither. 12 people own only a cat, 15 own only a dog, 5 own both, and 8 own neither. Work out the probability that a randomly chosen person owns a cat or a dog (or both). Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.

13.Grace rolls two ordinary fair dice at the same time and works out the total of the two scores. Work out the probability that the total is greater than 10.

14.The probability that a component is faulty is 1/10. Two components are tested independently. Work out the probability that at least one of the two components is faulty.

15.A spinner has equal sections, and the probability that it lands on blue in a single spin is 1/4. It is spun twice, and the two spins are independent. Work out the probability that it lands on blue on both spins.