A bag contains 12 white balls and 8 black balls, another contains 10 white balls

MATHEMATICS
WAEC 1994

A bag contains 12 white balls and 8 black balls, another contains 10 white balls and 15 black balls. If two balls are drawn, without replacement from each bag, find the probability that :

(a) all four balls are black ;

(b) exactly one of the four balls is white.

Explanation

(a) 1st bag contains 12 white (W) balls and 8 black (B) balls; 2nd bag contains 10 white (W) balls and 15 black (B) balls.

P(two black balls from the 1st bag and two black balls from 2nd bag)

= \((\frac{8}{20} \times \frac{7}{19}) \times (\frac{15}{25} \times \frac{14}{24})\)

= \(\frac{14}{95} \times \frac{7}{20}\)

= \(\frac{49}{950}\)

(b) P(picking exactly one white ball) = P(WB from 1st bag and BB from 2nd bag) + P(BW from 1st bag and BB from 2nd bag) + P(BB from 1st bag and WB from 2nd bag) + P(BB from 1st bag and BW from 2nd bag)

= \(\frac{12}{20} \times \frac{8}{19} \times \frac{15}{25} \times \frac{14}{24} + \frac{8}{20} \times \frac{12}{19} \times \frac{15}{25} \times \frac{14}{24} + \frac{8}{20} \times \frac{7}{19} \times \frac{10}{25} \times \frac{15}{24} + \frac{8}{20} \times \frac{7}{19} \times \frac{15}{25} \times \frac{10}{24}\)

= \(\frac{42}{475} + \frac{42}{475} + \frac{7}{190} + \frac{7}{190}\)

= \(\frac{238}{950}\)



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