Simple Probability
Word Problems
Spinners
100
From a standard deck of playing cards, a card will be chosen at random. What is the probability the card is a diamond?
100
When Mark and Courtney were finished categorizing all their shapes from their Shape Bucket, Mark quickly threw all the shapes back into the empty bucket. All that was left was there Venn diagram showing how many shapes were listed in each category.
If Mark reaches in and chooses a shape from this collection in the Shape Bucket, what is the probability the shape he chooses will be a quadrilateral?
35/45 or 7/9
100
Janet had trouble choosing outfits, so she made spinners to randomly select outfits. Based on her spinners below, what is the probability that she wears a hat or scarf with boots?
200
What is the probability that a card chosen at random from a standard deck is NOT a face card?
40/52 or 10/13
200
Mr. Less is known for making errors when correcting his students’ papers. On any given problem, he has a 40% chance of grading the problem correctly. (That is, marking a correct solution as correct or a wrong solution as incorrect.)
Victoria is pretty good at math, but on any given problem she has an 80% chance of getting the correct answer. Victoria just took a one-question quiz in Mr. Less’ class. What is the probability that she will get 100%? What is the probability that she does the problem correctly, but is marked as wrong? Explain completely.
P(100%) = .32
P(correct but marked wrong) = .48
200
A game is played by spinning two spinners. If the colors match, the player wins. What is the probability that a player wins? CLEARLY demonstrate how you are solving the problem. (R = Red, G = Green, B = Blue)
5/16
300
A bag contains 17 triangles. I choose one at random. What is the probability that the angle measures of the one I choose sum to 180°? Explain.
1 or 100%
300
At her archery lessons, Tess has a 90% chance of getting a bull’s eye. Unfortunately, there is only a 40% chance that her instructor will be watching her when she shoots. What is the probability that her instructor will see Tess hit the bull’s eye? Explain completely.
P(Sees the bull’s eye) = .36
400
Alex is trying to stump Hailey. He has the told her that he has a spinner just like the hexagon shown at right, with three colors on it: red, yellow and blue. He will spin it 100 times, and tell her the outcome each time. Based on the responses, Hailey has to figure out how the spinner is colored. She keeps track and finds these results:
Red: 49
Yellow: 36
Blue: 15
How should Hailey color in the hexagon? Justify your answer completely.
Half should be colored red
about a third of it should be colored yellow
the remaining 1/6 should be blue