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Date None Specimen Marks available 3 Reference code SPNone.1.hl.TZ0.3
Level HL only Paper 1 Time zone TZ0
Command term Find Question number 3 Adapted from N/A

Question

A bag contains three balls numbered 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Bill selects one of these balls at random and he notes the number on the selected ball. He then tosses that number of fair coins.

Calculate the probability that no head is obtained.

[3]
a.

Given that no head is obtained, find the probability that he tossed two coins.

[3]
b.

Markscheme

P(no heads from n coins tossed) = \({0.5^n}\)     (A1)

P(no head) = \(\frac{1}{3} \times \frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{3} \times \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{3} \times \frac{1}{8}\)     M1

= \(\frac{7}{{24}}\)     A1

[3 marks]

a.

\({\text{P(2 | no heads)}} = \frac{{{\text{P(2 coins and no heads)}}}}{{{\text{P(no heads)}}}}\)     M1

\( = \frac{{\frac{1}{{12}}}}{{\frac{7}{{24}}}}\)     A1

\( = \frac{2}{7}\)     A1

[3 marks]

b.

Examiners report

[N/A]
a.
[N/A]
b.

Syllabus sections

Topic 5 - Core: Statistics and probability » 5.4 » Conditional probability; the definition \(P\left( {\left. A \right|P} \right) = \frac{{P\left( {A\mathop \cap \nolimits B} \right)}}{{P\left( B \right)}}\) .

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