MCQs in Venn Diagram, Permutation, Combination and Probability Part I

Choose the letter of the best answer in each questions. Problem 5: EE Board April 1997

Problem 1: EE Board October 1993
In a class 40 students, 27 like Calculus and 25 like
Chemistry. How many like both Calculus and Chemistry?
 A. 10
 B. 11
 C. 12
 D. 13
Problem 2: ECE Board November 1998
A club of 40 executives, 33 like to smoke Marlboro and 20
like to smoke Philip Morris. How many like both?
In a commercial survey involving 1000 persons on brand
preference, 120 were found to prefer brand x only, 200
prefer brand y only, 150 prefer brand z only, 370 prefer
either brand x or y but not z, 450 prefer brand y or z but not x
and 370 prefer either brand z or x but not y. How many
persons have no brand preference, satisfied with any of the
three brands?
 A. 280
 B. 230
 C. 180
 D. 130
Problem 6: EE Board April 1997

A toothpaste firm claims that in survey of 54 people, they

 A. 10 were using either Colgate, Hapee or Close-up brand. The
 B. 11 following statistics were found: 6 people used all three
 C. 12 brands, 5 used only Hapee and Close-up, 18 used Hapee or
Close-up, 2 used Hapee, 2 used only Hapee and Colgate, 1
 D. 13
used Close-up and Colgate, and 20 used only Colgate. Is
the survey worth paying for?
Problem 3: GE Board February 1994

A survey of 100 persons revealed that 72 of them had eaten  A. Neither yes nor no
at restaurant P and that 52 of them had eaten at restaurant  B. Yes
Q. Which of the following could not be the number of
persons in the surveyed group who had eaten at both P and
 C. No
Q?  D. Either yes or no

Problem 7:
 A. 20
 B. 22 How many four-letter words beginning and ending with a
 C. 24 vowel without any letter repeated can be formed from the
word “personnel”?
 D. 26

Problem 4: ECE Board November 1992  A. 40

 B. 480
The probability for the ECE board examinees from a certain
school to pass the subject Mathematics is 3/7 and for the
 C. 20
subject Communications is 5/7. If none of the examinees  D. 312
fails both subject and there are 4 examinees who pass both
subjects, find the number of examinees from that school who Problem 8:
took the examinations.
Five different Mathematics books, 4 different electronics
books and 2 different communications books are to be
 A. 20 placed in a shelf with the books of the same subject
 B. 25 together. Find the number of ways in which the books can be
 C. 30 placed.
 D. 28
 A. 292
 B. 5760
 C. 34560
 D. 12870
MCQs in Venn Diagram, Permutation, Combination and Probability Part I

Problem 9: Problem 14: EE Board April 1997

The number of ways can 3 nurses and 4 engineers be What is the number of permutations of the letters in the word
seated on a bench with the nurses seated together is? BANANA?

 A. 144  A. 36
 B. 258  B. 60
 C. 720  C. 52
 D. 450  D. 42

Problem 10: ECE Board November 1998 Problem 15: ME Board April 1994

If 15 people won prizes in the state lottery (assuming that A PSME unit has 10 ME’s, 8 PME’s and 6 CPM’s. If a
there are no ties), how many ways can these 15 people win committee of 3 members, one from each group is to be
first, second, third, fourth and fifth prizes? formed, how many such committees can be formed?

 A. 4,845  A. 2,024
 B. 116,260  B. 12,144
 C. 360,360  C. 480
 D. 3,003  D. 360

Problem 11: CE Board November 1996 Problem 16: ME Board October 1992

How many 4 digit numbers can be formed without repeating In how many ways can a PSME Chapter with 15 directors
any digit from the following digits: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6? choose a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a
Treasurer and an Auditor, if no member can hold more than
one position?
 A. 120
 B. 130
 A. 360,360
 C. 140
 B. 32,760
 D. 150
 C. 3,003

Problem 12: EE Board June 1990

 D. 3,603,600

How many permutations are there if the letters PNRCSE are Problem 17: EE Board October 1997
taken six at a time?
Four different colored flags can be hung in a row to make
coded signal. How many signals can be made if a signal
 A. 1440 consists of the display of one or more flags?
 B. 480
 C. 720
 A. 64
 D. 360
 B. 66
 C. 68
Problem 13: EE Board April 1996
 D. 62
In how many ways can 6 distinct books be arranged in a
bookshelf? Problem 18: EE Board June 1990, EE Board April 1993,
CHE Board May 1994
 A. 720 In how many ways can 4 boys and 4 girls be seated
 B. 120 alternately in a row of 8 seats?
 C. 360
 D. 180  A. 1152
 B. 2304
 C. 576
 D. 2204
MCQs in Venn Diagram, Permutation, Combination and Probability Part I

Problem 19: EE Board October 1997  A. 15

There are four balls of four different colors. Two balls are  B. 31
taken at a time and arranged in a definite order. For  C. 36
example, if a white and red balls are taken, one definite  D. 25
arrangement is white first, red second, and another
arrangement is red first, white second. How many such
arrangements are possible? Problem 25: CHE November 1996

In how many ways can a committee of three consisting of

 A. 24 two chemical engineers and one mechanical engineer can
 B. 6
be formed from four chemical engineers and three
mechanical engineers?
 C. 12
 D. 36
 A. 18
Problem 20:  B. 64
 C. 32
How many different ways can 5 boys and 5 girls form a circle  D. None of these
with boys and girls alternate?

Problem 26: EE Board April 1995

 A. 28,800
 B. 2,880
In Mathematics examination, a student may select 7
problems from a set of 10 problems. In how many ways can
 C. 5,600 he make his choice?
 D. 14,400

 A. 120
Problem 21: EE Board October 1997
 B. 530
There are four balls of different colors. Two balls at a time  C. 720
are taken and arranged any way. How many such  D. 320
combinations are possible?

Problem 27: EE Board April 1997

 A. 36
 B. 3
How many committees can be formed by choosing 4 men
from an organization of a membership of 15 men?
 C. 6
 D. 12
 A. 1390
Problem 22: EE Board March 1998
 B. 1240
 C. 1435
How many 6-number combinations can be generated from  D. 1365
the numbers from 1 to 42 inclusive, without repetition and
with no regards to the order of the numbers?
Problem 28: ECE Board April 1998

 A. 850,668 A semiconductor company will hire 7 men and 4 women. In

 B. 5,245,786
how many ways can the company choose from 9 men and 6
women who qualified for the position?
 C. 188,848,296
 D. 31,474,716
 A. 680
Problem 23:  B. 540
 C. 480
Find the total number of combinations of three letters, J, R, T  D. 840
taken 1, 2, 3 at a time.

Problem 29: ECE Board April 1994

 A. 7
 B. 8 There are 13 teams in a tournament. Each team is to play
with each other only once. What is the minimum number of
 C. 9 days can they all play without any team playing more than
 D. 10 one game in any day?

Problem 24: ME Board October 1997  A. 11

In how many ways can you invite one or more of your five  B. 12
friends in a party?  C. 13
MCQs in Venn Diagram, Permutation, Combination and Probability Part I

 D. 14  A. 2/13
 B. 3/13
Problem 30: EE Board October 1996  C. 4/13
 D. 1/13
There are five main roads between the cities A and B, and
four between B and C. In how many ways can a person drive
from A to C and return, going through B on both trips without Problem 36:
driving on the same road twice?
A card is drawn from a deck of 52 playing cards, Find the
probability if drawing a king or a red card.
 A. 260
 B. 240
 A. 0.5835
 C. 120
 B. 0.5385
 D. 160
 C. 0.3585
 D. 0.8535
Problem 31: EE Board April 1991

There are 50 tickets in a lottery in which there is a first and Problem 37: CE Board November 1998
second prize. What is the probability of a man drawing a
prize if he owns 5 tickets? A coin is tossed 3 times. What is the probability of getting 3
tails up?

 A. 50%
 B. 25%
 A. 1/8
 C. 20%
 B. 1/16
 D. 40%
 C. 1/4
 D. 7/8
Problem 32:
Problem 38: EE Board April 1996
Roll a pair of dice. What is the probability that the sum of two
numbers is 11? The probability of getting at least 2 heads when a coin is
tossed four times is?

 A. 1/36
 B. 1/9
 A. 11/16
 C. 1/18
 B. 13/16
 D. 1/20
 C. 1/4
 D. 3/8
Problem 33:
Problem 39:
Roll two dice once. What is the probability that the sum is 7?
A fair coin is tossed three times. What is the probability of
getting either 3 heads or 3 tail?
 A. 1/6
 B. 1/8
 A. 1/8
 C. 1/4
 B. 3/8
 D. 1/7
 C. 1/4
 D. 1/2
Problem 34:

In a throw of two dice, the probability of obtaining a total of Problem 40: ECE Board March 1996
10 or 12 is?
The probability of getting a credit in an examination is 1/3. If
three students are selected at random, what is the
 A. 1/6 probability that at least one of them got a credit?
 B. 1/9
 C. 1/12  A. 19/27
 D. 1/18  B. 8/27
 C. 2/3
Problem 35:  D. 1/3
Determine the probability of drawing either a king or a
diamond in a single draw from a pack of 52 playing cards Problem 41:
MCQs in Venn Diagram, Permutation, Combination and Probability Part I

There are 3 questions in a test. For each question is A bag contains 3 white and 5 black balls. If two balls are
awarded for a correct answer and none for a wrong answer. drawn in succession without replacement, what is the
If the probability that Janine correctly answers a question in probability that both balls are black?
the test is 2/3, determine the probability that she gets zero in
the test.
 A. 5/16
 B. 5/28
 A. 8/27
 C. 5/32
 B. 4/9
 D. 5/14
 C. 1/30
 D. 1/27
Problem 47: ME Board April 1996

Problem 42: EE Board April 1991 An urn contains 4 black balls and 6 white balls. What is the
probability of getting 1 black and 1 white ball in two
In the ECE Board Examinations, the probability that an consecutive draws from the urn?
examinee will pass each subject is 0.8. What is the
probability that an examinee will pass at least two subjects
out of three board subjects?  A. 0.24
 B. 0.27
 A. 70.9%
 C. 0.53
 B. 80.9%
 D. 0.04
 C. 85.9%
Problem 48: EE Board October 1990
 D. 89.6%
From a bag containing 4 black balls and 5 white balls, two
Problem 43: balls are drawn one at a time. Find the probability that one
ball is white and one ball is black. Assume that the first ball
In a multiple choice test, each question is to be answered by is returned before the second ball is drawn.
selecting 1 out of 5 choices of which only 1 is right, If there
are 10 questions in a test, what is the probability of getting 6
right of pure guesswork?  A. 16/81
 B. 25/81
 A. 10%
 C. 20/81
 B. 6%
 D. 40/81
 C. 0.44%
Problem 49: EE Board October 1997
 D. 0.55%
A group of 3 people enter a theatre after the lights had
Problem 44: ME Board April 1994 dimmed. They are shown to the correct group of 3 seats by
the usher. Each person holds a number stub. What is the
From a box containing 6 red balls, 8 white balls and 10 blue probability that each is in the correct seat according to the
balls, one ball is drawn at random. Determine the probability numbers on seat and stub?
that is red or white.

 A. 1/6
 A. 1/3  B. 1/4
 B. 7/12  C. 1/2
 C. 5/12  D. 1/8
 D. 1/4
Problem 50:
Problem 45: EE Board October 1990
From 20 tickets marked with the first 20 numerals, one is
From a bag containing 4 black balls and 5 white balls, two drawn at random. What is the chance that it will be a multiple
balls are drawn one at a time. Find the probability that both of 3 or of 7?
balls are white. Assume that the first ball is returned before
the second ball is drawn.
 A. 1/2
 B. 8/15
 A. 25/81
 C. 3/10
 B. 16/81
 D. 2/5
 C. 5/18
 D. 40/81

Problem 46: CE Board May 1996

MCQs in Venn Diagram, Permutation, Combination and Probability Part I

29. 13
Answer Key: 30. 240

1. 12 31. 20%

2. 13 32. 1/18

3. 24 33. 1/6

4. 28 34. 1/9

5. 280 35. 4/13

6. No 36. 0.5385

7. 40 37. 1/8

8. 34560 38. 11/16

9. 720 39. 1/4

10. 360,360 40. 19/27

11. 120 41. 1/27

12. 720 42. 89.6%

13. 720 43. 0.55%

14. 60 44. 7/12

15. 480 45. 25/81

16. 360,360 46. 5/14

17. 64 47. 0.53

18. 1152 48. 40/81

19. 12 49. 1/6

20. 2,880 50. 2/5

21. 6
22. 5,245,786
23. 7
24. 31
25. 18
26. 120
27. 1365
28. 540