Probability worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A factory finds that the probability a randomly chosen light bulb is defective is 0.035. In a batch of 4,000 bulbs, work out how many bulbs you would expect to work correctly.

2.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.

3.A pupil must choose 2 different subjects at random from these five: maths, physics, biology, chemistry and history. Work out the probability that the two subjects chosen are maths and biology.

4.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.

5.A bag contains 3 red counters and 5 blue counters. Three counters are taken out at random, one after another, without being replaced. Work out the probability that all three counters taken out are red.

6.A fair coin is flipped and a fair five-sided spinner, labelled 1 to 5, is spun. All the outcomes are listed as pairs, such as (H, 3). Work out the probability that the outcome is a tail and an odd number.

7.Two fair six-sided dice are rolled and the two scores are added together. Given that at least one of the dice shows a 5, work out the probability that the total is 8.

8.A garage tested 200 cars in one week. 70% of the cars were more than 3 years old and the rest were 3 years old or less. Of the cars more than 3 years old, 1 in 4 failed the test. 12 of the cars that were 3 years old or less failed the test. Work out how many of the 200 cars failed the test altogether.

9.Harry plays a game in which he flips a fair coin and rolls an ordinary fair dice. He wins a prize only if the coin shows heads and the dice shows a 6. Work out the probability that Harry wins a prize.

10.At a sports centre, 45% of the members are aged under 18. 60% of the members aged under 18 swim each week. 20% of the members aged 18 or over swim each week. Work out the percentage of all the members who swim each week.

11.A spinner is divided into sectors of 144°, 90° and 126°, coloured purple, orange and grey in that order. The spinner is spun 300 times. Work out how many times you would expect it to land on purple.

12.For two events A and B, P(A) = 0.6 and P(A and B) = 0.15. Work out P(B | A).

13.A bag contains 3 yellow counters and 2 green counters. Sophie takes one counter at random and does not put it back. She then takes a second counter at random. Work out the probability that the first counter is yellow and the second is green.

14.In a group of 50 people, 32 own a car, 20 own a bicycle and 9 own both a car and a bicycle. A person who owns a bicycle is picked at random. Work out the probability that this person does not own a car.

15.At a school fête, a stall invites visitors to spin a fair spinner with 8 equal sections numbered 1 to 8, and separately toss a fair coin. A visitor wins a small prize only if the spinner lands on a multiple of 3 and the coin lands on heads. Work out the probability that a visitor wins a prize, giving your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.