One of the four persons John, Rita, Aslam or Gurpreet will be promoted next month. Consequently, the sample space consists of four elementary outcomes S
= {John promoted, Rita promoted, Aslam promoted, Gurpreet promoted} You are told that the chances of John’s promotion is same as that of Gurpreet, Rita’s
chances of promotion are twice as likely as Johns. Aslam’s chances are four times that of John.
(a) Determine P (John promoted)
P (Rita promoted)
P (Aslam promoted)
P (Gurpreet promoted)
(b) If A = {John promoted or Gurpreet promoted}, find P (A).
Given Sample Space, S = John promoted, Rita promoted, Aslam promoted, Gurpreet promoted
Let E1 = events that John promoted
E2 = events that Rita promoted
E3 = events that Aslam promoted
E4 = events that Gurpreet promoted
It is given that chances of John’s promotion is same as that of Gurpreet
P (E1) = P (E4) ……1
It is given that Rita’s chances of promotion are twice as likely as John
P (E2) = 2P (E1) ……2
and Aslam’s chances of promotion are four times that of John
P (E3) = 4 P (E1) ……3
Since, sum of all probabilities = 1
⇒ P (E1) + P (E2) + P (E3) + P (E4) = 1
⇒ P (E1) + 2P (E1) + 4 P (E1) + P (E1) = 1
⇒ 8P (E1) = 1
⇒ P (E1) = 1/8 ….4
(a) $P$ (John promoted) $=P\left(E_{1}\right)$
$=\frac{1}{8}$ [from (iv)]
$P$ (Rita promoted) $=P\left(E_{2}\right)$
From 2 we have
$=2 P\left(E_{1}\right)$
From 4
$=2 \times \frac{1}{8}$
$=\frac{1}{4}$
$P$ (Aslam promoted) $=P\left(E_{3}\right)$
From 3 we have
$=4 \mathrm{P}\left(\mathrm{E}_{1}\right)$
From 4 we can write as
$=4 \times \frac{1}{8}$
$=\frac{1}{2}$
$P$ (Gurpreet promoted) $=P\left(E_{4}\right)$
From 1
$=P\left(E_{1}\right)$
$=1 / 2$
$P$ (Gurpreet promoted) $=P\left(E_{4}\right)$
From 1
$=P\left(E_{1}\right)$
$=\frac{1}{8}$
(b) Given $A=$ (John promoted or Gurpreet promoted)
$\therefore, A=E_{1} \cup E_{4}$
$P(A)=P\left(E_{1} \cup E_{4}\right)$
By general rule of addition, we have
$=P\left(E_{1}\right)+P\left(E_{1}\right)-0[$ from (i) $]$
$=\frac{1}{8}+\frac{1}{8}$
$=\frac{2}{8}$
$=\frac{1}{4}$