Mathematics Stack Exchange
Mathematics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [probability]

For basic questions about probability and the questions associated with the calculation of probability, expected value, variance, standard deviation, or similar statistical quantities. For questions about the theoretical footing of probability (especially using [tag:measure-theory]), ask under [tag:probability-theory] instead. For questions about specific probability distributions, use [tag:probability-distributions] instead.

Probability is a numerical quantity which lies in the interval $[0, 1]$. According to the Bayesian view, it represents the belief about an event or preposition and it is interpreted as how likely it is for an event to occur, or of how likely it is for a proposition to be true. According to the frequentist view, it represents the relative frequency of a favourable event with respect to the sample space. Use this tag for basic questions about probability and for questions about calculating a probability, expected value, variance, standard deviation, or similar quantities. For questions about the theoretical footing of probability (especially using ), please ask under instead. For questions about specific probability distributions, please use .

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Multiple-choice question about the probability of a random answer to itself being correct

I found this math "problem" on the internet, and I'm wondering if it has an answer: Question: If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the probability that you will be correct? a. $25\%$ b. $50\%$ c. $0\%$ d. $25\%$ Does this…
user11088
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In Russian roulette, is it best to go first?

Assume that we are playing a game of Russian roulette (6 chambers) and that there is no shuffling after the shot is fired. I was wondering if you have an advantage in going first? If so, how big of an advantage? I was just debating this with…
nikkita
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Given an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite amount of time, would one of them write Hamlet?

Of course, we've all heard the colloquialism "If a bunch of monkeys pound on a typewriter, eventually one of them will write Hamlet." I have a (not very mathematically intelligent) friend who presented it as if it were a mathematical fact, which got…
Jason
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Do men or women have more brothers?

Do men or women have more brothers? I think women have more as no man can be his own brother. But how one can prove it rigorously? I am going to suggest some reasonable background assumptions: There are a large number of individuals, of whom half…
layman
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Counterintuitive examples in probability

I want to teach a short course in probability and I am looking for some counter-intuitive examples in Probability. The results seem to be obviously false but they true or vice versa. I already found some things. For example these two…
MR_BD
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Can a coin with an unknown bias be treated as fair?

This morning, I wanted to flip a coin to make a decision but only had an SD card: Given that I don't know the bias of this SD card, would flipping it be considered a "fair toss"? I thought if I'm just as likely to assign an outcome to one side as…
Andrew Cheong
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Taking Seats on a Plane

This is a neat little problem that I was discussing today with my lab group out at lunch. Not particularly difficult but interesting implications nonetheless Imagine there are a 100 people in line to board a plane that seats 100. The first person in…
crasic
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Monty hall problem extended.

I just learned about the Monty Hall problem and found it quite amazing. So I thought about extending the problem a bit to understand more about it. In this modification of the Monty Hall Problem, instead of three doors, we have four (or maybe $n$)…
Shaurya Gupta
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What is the best book to learn probability?

Question is quite straight... I'm not very good in this subject but need to understand at a good level.
Eduardo Xavier
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Sum of random decreasing numbers between 0 and 1: does it converge??

Let's define a sequence of numbers between 0 and 1. The first term, $r_1$ will be chosen uniformly randomly from $(0, 1)$, but now we iterate this process choosing $r_2$ from $(0, r_1)$, and so on, so $r_3\in(0, r_2)$, $r_4\in(0, r_3)$... The set of…
Carlos Toscano-Ochoa
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Is the product of two Gaussian random variables also a Gaussian?

Say I have $X \sim \mathcal N(a, b)$ and $Y\sim \mathcal N(c, d)$. Is $XY$ also normally distributed? Is the answer any different if we know that $X$ and $Y$ are independent?
jamaicanworm
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What's 4 times more likely than 80%?

There's an 80% probability of a certain outcome, we get some new information that means that outcome is 4 times more likely to occur. What's the new probability as a percentage and how do you work it out? As I remember it the question was posed like…
Jim
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What is the probability that a point chosen randomly from inside an equilateral triangle is closer to the center than to any of the edges?

My friend gave me this puzzle: What is the probability that a point chosen at random from the interior of an equilateral triangle is closer to the center than any of its edges? I tried to draw the picture and I drew a smaller (concentric)…
terrace
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What is the difference between independent and mutually exclusive events?

Two events are mutually exclusive if they can't both happen. Independent events are events where knowledge of the probability of one doesn't change the probability of the other. Are these definitions correct? If possible, please give more than one…
Adnan Ali
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Expected time to roll all 1 through 6 on a die

What is the average number of times it would it take to roll a fair 6-sided die and get all numbers on the die? The order in which the numbers appear does not matter. I had this questions explained to me by a professor (not math professor), but it…
eternalmatt
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