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Q.If P(A∩B)=18P(A \cap B) = \frac{1}{8} and P(Aˉ)=34P(\bar{A}) = \frac{3}{4}, then P(BA)P\left(\frac{B}{A}\right) is equal to :

(a) 12\frac{1}{2}
(b) 13\frac{1}{3}
(c) 16\frac{1}{6}
(d) 23\frac{2}{3}
CBSECBSE Class XII Board 2023MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★
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We use the relationship P(A)=1−P(Aˉ)P(A) = 1 - P(\bar{A}) to find P(A)P(A), and then apply the conditional probability formula P(B∣A)=P(A∩B)/P(A)P(B|A) = P(A \cap B) / P(A) to get the result 12\frac{1}{2}.

When we talk about P(B∣A)P(B|A), we are asking for the probability of event BB happening, given that event AA has already occurred. This changes our "sample space" from the entire set of possibilities to just the outcomes where AA has happened.

The core idea is that if AA has already happened, then for BB to also happen, both AA and BB must occur. The probability of both AA and BB occurring is P(A∩B)P(A \cap B). However, since we know AA has already happened, we need to normalize this by the probability of AA itself. This leads directly to the formula for conditional probability.

The conditional probability of event BB given event AA is:

P(B∣A)=P(A∩B)P(A)P(B|A) = \frac{P(A \cap B)}{P(A)}

This formula is valid only when P(A)>0P(A) > 0.

We are given P(A∩B)P(A \cap B) directly. However, we are given P(Aˉ)P(\bar{A}) instead of P(A)P(A). We know that an event AA either happens or it doesn't, so the probability of AA happening plus the probability of AA not happening (denoted Aˉ\bar{A}) must sum to 1. That is, P(A)+P(Aˉ)=1P(A) + P(\bar{A}) = 1. We can use this to find P(A)P(A).

  1. Calculate P(A)P(A) from P(Aˉ)P(\bar{A}): We are given P(Aˉ)=34P(\bar{A}) = \frac{3}{4}. The probability of event AA occurring is 11 minus the probability of event AA not occurring.

P(A)=1−P(Aˉ)P(A) = 1 - P(\bar{A})

Substituting the given value: …

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