Eduqas GCSE Mathematics (C300)
GCSE Maths
Answer sheet
Probability
Separate mark scheme — do not issue with the student worksheet
Time guide: — · Questions: 32 · Total marks: 82
Written in Eduqas Higher-style. There are two exam papers. Show working throughout.
Indicative marking points. Award marks for equivalent scientific or mathematical wording. Do not issue this sheet with the student worksheet.
1. A fair six-sided dice is rolled. Find P(even number).
2. Two fair coins are flipped. Find P(two heads).
[2 marks]
- HH, HT, TH, TT
- Final answer: 1/4
3. A bag contains 7 red and 9 blue counters. One counter is taken at random. Find P(red).
4. A spinner has sections A, A, B, C. It is fair.
5. P(rain) = 0.3. Find P(not rain).
6. Events A and B are mutually exclusive. P(A) = 0.2, P(B) = 0.5. Find P(A or B).
[2 marks]
- 0.7
- Add because they cannot both happen
7. Events C and D are independent. P(C) = 0.4, P(D) = 0.5. Find P(C and D).
8. A bag has 3 red and 5 green sweets. Two sweets are taken without replacement. Find P(both red).
[3 marks]
- Tree diagram
- Final answer: 3/8 × 2/7 = 6/56 = 3/28
9. Using the same bag, find P(one of each colour) when two sweets are taken without replacement.
[4 marks]
- Two orders
- Final answer: 3/8×5/7 + 5/8×3/7 = 30/56 = 15/28
10. Draw a complete tree diagram for two flips of a biased coin with P(H) = 0.6. Label all eight probabilities on the branches and ends.
[4 marks]
- Branches 0.6 and 0.4 twice
- HH 0.36, HT 0.24, TH 0.24, TT 0.16
11. A two-way table: 20 students, 12 study French, 9 study German, 5 study both. How many study neither?
[3 marks]
- Inclusion-exclusion: 12+9−5 = 16, 20−16 = 4
- Final answer: 4
12. From that table, a student is chosen at random. Find P(studies French | studies German).
[3 marks]
- Conditional: both / German
- Final answer: 5/9
13. Write the formula for P(A|B) and explain it in words.
[2 marks]
- P(A and B) / P(B)
- Restrict the sample space to B
14. The probability of winning a game is 0.15. The game is played 200 times. Estimate the number of wins.
[2 marks]
- Expected frequency np
- Final answer: 30
15. Relative frequency of a 6 after 50 rolls is 0.1. After 500 rolls it is 0.16. Which is the better estimate of P(6) on a fair dice, and why?
[3 marks]
- 500 rolls
- More trials, relative frequency closer to the true probability
16. A letter is chosen from MISSISSIPPI. Find P(S).
[2 marks]
- 4 S letters, 11 total
- Final answer: 4/11
17. Two events: P(A) = 0.3, P(B) = 0.4, P(A and B) = 0.12. Are A and B independent? Show working.
[3 marks]
- Final answer: Yes, because 0.3×0.4 = 0.12
18. P(A) = 0.6, P(B) = 0.5, P(A and B) = 0.2. Find P(A or B).
[2 marks]
- 0.6+0.5−0.2
- Final answer: 0.9
19. What is a sample space? List the sample space when a coin is flipped and a dice is rolled.
[3 marks]
- All possible outcomes
- H1–H6 and T1–T6, 12 outcomes
20. A fair spinner 1–5 is spun twice. Find P(sum is 10).
[2 marks]
- Only 5 then 5
- Final answer: 1/25
21. Find P(sum is 6) for two fair dice.
[3 marks]
- (1,5)(2,4)(3,3)(4,2)(5,1)
- Final answer: 5/36
22. Explain the difference between independent events and mutually exclusive events. Give an example of each.
[4 marks]
- Independent: one does not affect the other, e.g. two coin flips
- Mutually exclusive: cannot happen together, e.g. rolling a 2 and a 5 on one roll
23. Jac picks a number from 1 to 20. Find P(prime).
[2 marks]
- 2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19
- Final answer: 8/20 = 2/5
24. A Venn diagram has P(A) = 0.5, P(B) = 0.4 and P(A and B) = 0.15.
25. Without replacement: 10 tickets numbered 1–10. Two tickets are drawn. Find P(both even).
[3 marks]
- Final answer: 5/10 × 4/9 = 2/9
26. Why must probabilities on a set of mutually exclusive exhaustive outcomes add up to 1?
[2 marks]
- One of them must happen
- The sample space is complete
27. A biased dice has P(6) = 0.3. It is rolled twice. Find P(at least one 6).
[3 marks]
- Complement
- Final answer: 1 − 0.7² = 0.51
28. Expected winnings: a game costs £2. P(win £10) = 0.1, otherwise win nothing. Is the game fair? Show working.
[3 marks]
- Final answer: Expected gain = 0.1×10 − 2 = −1, not fair
29. Describe how to use a set of random numbers from 00 to 99 to simulate P(success) = 0.27.
[2 marks]
- Assign 00–26 as success
- 27–99 as failure
30. A Eduqas tree-diagram question is often 4 marks. State what must be labelled on the branches and on the ends.
[2 marks]
- Branch probabilities
- Outcome probabilities multiplied along the path
31. Three fair coins. Find P(exactly two heads).
[3 marks]
- HHT, HTH, THH
- Final answer: 3/8
32. The probability of an event is 0. Explain what this means. The probability is 1. Explain what this means.