Probability worksheet — GCSE Foundation

1.A drawing pin is dropped many times and lands either point up or point down. The relative frequency of landing point up is recorded as the experiment goes on: after 50 drops it is 0.720, after 200 drops it is 0.665, and after 1000 drops it is 0.638. The pin is to be dropped a further 2000 times. Work out the best estimate of the number of times it will land point up.

2.A bag contains 5 red counters and 5 green counters. Three counters are taken out one at a time and are not put back. Work out the probability that all three counters are red.

3.A drawer contains 4 red socks and 2 blue socks. Two socks are taken out at random, one after the other, without the first being put back. Work out the probability that both socks are the same colour.

4.At a leisure centre, 50 members are asked which activities they do. 32 do yoga, 24 do pilates, and 11 do both. Work out how many members do yoga only, and not pilates.

5.The probability that Oliver's train is delayed on any morning is 0.3. Work out the probability that his train is not delayed.

6.A bag contains counters that are red, blue or green only. The probability that a counter taken at random is not red is 0.8. The bag contains 25 counters in total. Work out how many of the counters are red.

7.At a gym, 45 members are surveyed. 24 use the running machines, 20 use the weights machines, and 9 use both. Work out how many of the 45 members use neither machine.

8.Four pupils each flip the same coin a number of times and record the results. Sam flips it 40 times and gets 24 heads. Priti flips it 25 times and gets 10 heads. Leo flips it 20 times and gets 9 heads. Fatima flips it 15 times and gets 6 heads. Combine all four pupils' results to estimate the probability that the coin lands on heads.

9.One card is taken at random from an ordinary pack of 52 playing cards. 26 of the cards are red. Work out the probability that the card is red. Give your answer as a percentage.

10.Two ordinary fair dice are rolled, one after the other. Work out the probability that the first dice shows a 6 and the second dice shows an even number.

11.A café offers 3 types of sandwich, cheese, ham and egg, and 4 types of drink, tea, coffee, juice and water. A customer chooses one sandwich and one drink at random. Work out the probability that the customer chooses egg and water.

12.A fair six-sided dice is rolled 90 times. Work out how many more times you would expect it to land on a number less than 4 than on a 6.

13.A fair six-sided dice is rolled once. Write down the probability that the score is an even number.

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.Spinner P and Spinner Q are each fair and have 5 equal sections, numbered 1 to 5. Both spinners are spun once, and every outcome is listed as an ordered pair, Spinner P then Spinner Q, such as (2, 4). Work out how many of the outcomes have the score on Spinner P less than the score on Spinner Q.