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Nov 2015 p62 q3
2550
One plastic robot is given away free inside each packet of a certain brand of biscuits. There are four colours of plastic robot (red, yellow, blue and green) and each colour is equally likely to occur. Nick buys some packets of these biscuits. Find the probability that
he gets a green robot on opening his first packet,
he gets his first green robot on opening his fifth packet.
Nick’s friend Amos is also collecting robots.
Find the probability that the first four packets Amos opens all contain different coloured robots.
Solution
(i) The probability of getting a green robot from one packet is \(\frac{1}{4}\) since there are four equally likely colours.
(ii) The probability that Nick gets his first green robot on the fifth packet means he does not get a green robot in the first four packets and then gets a green robot on the fifth. The probability of not getting a green robot in one packet is \(\frac{3}{4}\). Therefore, the probability is \(\left( \frac{3}{4} \right)^4 \times \frac{1}{4} = \frac{81}{1024} = 0.0791\).
(iii) The probability that the first four packets Amos opens all contain different coloured robots is calculated by considering the permutations of the four colours. The probability is \(\frac{1}{4} \times \frac{1}{4} \times \frac{1}{4} \times \frac{1}{4} \times 4! = \frac{3}{32}\).