Probability worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.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.

2.At a fair, a game costs £2 to play. The probability of winning the game is 0.15, and each win pays out £10. Amir plays the game 200 times. Work out how much money Amir should expect to lose in total.

3.Two fair four-sided dice, numbered 1 to 4, are rolled and the two scores are added together. Work out the probability that the total is 5.

4.In a year group of 60 pupils, 25 play football, 18 play tennis and 8 play both football and tennis. A pupil who plays football or tennis or both is picked at random. Work out the probability that this pupil plays both sports.

5.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.

6.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.

7.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.

8.A biased spinner is spun 40 times and lands on red 16 times. It is then spun a further 60 times and lands on red 21 times. Work out the best estimate of the probability that the spinner lands on red, using the results of all 100 spins together.

9.A red fair dice and a blue fair dice are rolled together. Every outcome is listed as an ordered pair, red score then blue score. Work out the probability that the red score is less than the blue score.

10.On Amelia's walk to school there are two sets of traffic lights. The probability that the first set is green when she reaches it is 0.4. The probability that the second set is green when she reaches it is 0.5. The two sets work independently of each other. Work out the probability that both sets are green.

11.At a summer fair, the probability of winning at the hoopla stall is 6/10 and the probability of winning at the coconut shy is 2/10. Work out how many times as likely a player is to win at the hoopla stall as at the coconut shy.

12.The probability that Isla answers a quiz question correctly is 0.8. She answers three questions, and her answers are independent of each other. Work out the probability that she answers all three correctly.

13.A bag contains 4 red counters and 6 blue counters. A counter is taken at random, its colour noted, and it is put back in the bag before a second counter is taken at random. Work out the probability that the two counters are different colours. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.

14.A market research company found that, out of 120 shoppers surveyed, 42 preferred paper bags to plastic bags. A supermarket expects 900 shoppers this week. Using this relative frequency, work out how many of the 900 shoppers would be expected to prefer paper bags.

15.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.