Probability worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.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.

2.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.

3.A school buys pens from two suppliers and has 1000 pens in stock. Supplier X provided 70% of the pens and supplier Y provided the other 30%. 2% of supplier X's pens are faulty and 8% of supplier Y's pens are faulty. A pen picked at random from the stock is found to be faulty. Work out the probability that it came from supplier Y. Give your answer as a fraction.

4.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.

5.A fair coin is flipped again and again. After the first 10 flips there have been 7 heads. After 1000 flips there have been 528 heads. Which statement best describes what these results show?

6.Two fair five-sided dice, numbered 1 to 5, are rolled. Work out the probability that the two scores differ by at least 2.

7.Jack rolls two ordinary fair dice and adds the two scores together. Work out the probability that the total is 6.

8.A pack contains 6 cards, numbered 1 to 6. A card is drawn at random from the pack, and a fair coin is flipped. Work out the probability of drawing an even-numbered card and the coin landing on tails.

9.A fair six-sided dice is rolled 300 times. Work out how many more times you would expect it to land on an even number than on a six.

10.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.

11.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.

12.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.

13.A bag contains 3 red beads and 7 blue beads. A bead is taken out at random and not put back. A second bead is then taken out at random. Work out the probability that the first bead is red and the second bead is also red.

14.The probability that Kofi passes his driving test on any attempt is 0.6, and each attempt is independent of the others. Work out the probability that he fails both his first two attempts.

15.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.