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Solution: 2014 Winter Final - 15

Author: Michiel Smid

Question

We roll two fair and independent dice. Define the events
  • A = "at least one of the dice shows a 3",
  • B = "the sum of the dice is 5".
What is the conditional probability $\Pr(A|B)$?
(a)
1/2
(b)
1/8
(c)
1/9
(d)
1/4

Solution

  • Let S be the set of all outcomes when rolling two dice.
    The size of S is the number of outcomes when rolling two dice
    $ |S| = 6 \times 6 = 36 $
  • Let's find the size of the set of outcomes for event $A$.
    The set of A is $ { (3,1), (3,2), (3,3), (3,4), (3,5), (3,6), (1,3), (2,3), (4,3), (5,3), (6,3) } $
    $ |A| = 11 $
    $ Pr(A)= \frac{|A|}{|S|} = \frac{11}{36} $
  • Let's find the size of the set of outcomes for event $B$.
    The set of B is $ { (1,4), (2,3), (3,2), (4,1) } $
    $ |B| = 4 $
    $ Pr(B)= \frac{|B|}{|S|} = \frac{4}{36} = \frac{1}{9} $
  • Let's find the size of the set of outcomes for event $ A \cap B $.
    The set of $ A \cap B $ is $ { (3,2), (2,3) } $
    $ |A \cap B| = 2 $
    $ Pr(A \cap B) = \frac{|A \cap B|}{|S|} = \frac{2}{36} = \frac{1}{18} $

Let’s check whether the solution is correct

$ Pr(A|B) = \frac{Pr(A \cap B)}{Pr(B)} $

$ Pr(A|B) = \frac{ \frac{1}{18}}{ \frac{1}{9}} $

$ Pr(A|B) = \frac{1}{18} \times \frac{9}{1} $

$ Pr(A|B) = \frac{1}{2} $