Tree Diagrams
Coach Rivera starts Marcus in $60\%$ of the games and Aaliyah in the other $40\%$. Marcus makes his first shot $50\%$ of the time, and Aaliyah makes hers $70\%$ of the time. Before tip-off, what is the probability that the team's first shot goes in?
Two stages (who starts, then whether the shot goes in) already make this hard to hold in your head. A tree diagram keeps everything organized: each stage is a level, each possible outcome is a branch, and the calculation becomes almost mechanical. We'll come back to Coach Rivera's question and answer it.
Building a Tree: One Branch for Every Outcome
A tree diagram starts at a single point (the "root") and grows to the right, one level per stage of the experiment. Each branch is labeled with a probability.
On a shelf in a teenager's bedroom there are two boxes of trainers. Box A contains $3$ pairs of white trainers and $2$ pairs of black trainers. Box B contains $2$ pairs…
On a shelf in a teenager's bedroom there are two boxes of trainers. Box A contains $3$ pairs of white trainers and $2$ pairs of black trainers. Box B contains $2$ pairs of white and $4$ pairs of black. A student chooses a box at random (with equal probability) and, without looking, takes out a pair of trainers.
- a) Draw the tree diagram representing this situation, indicating the probabilities on each branch.
- b) Calculate the probability that the chosen trainers are white.
A TikTok content creator observes that $70 \%$ of their videos are comedy and $30 \%$ are challenges. The probability that a comedy video goes viral is $0,1$, while for…
A TikTok content creator observes that $70 \%$ of their videos are comedy and $30 \%$ are challenges. The probability that a comedy video goes viral is $0,1$, while for challenge videos this probability rises to $0,4$.
- a) Represent the situation using a tree diagram.
- b) If we choose a video at random from their profile, what is the probability that it is a viral video?
Multiplying Along Branches
Once you are at the end of a path, how likely was it to get there? You had to take the first branch and then the second.
Why multiply? If $30\%$ of all games are played on Hard mode, and you win $50\%$ of those, then you win $50\%$ of $30\%$ of all games, which is $0.5 \times 0.3$. Taking "a fraction of a fraction" means multiplying.
Answer to your turn: $0.7 \cdot 0.1 = 0.07$.
In an e-sports tournament, a player has to pass two stages. In Stage 1, the probability of success is $0,8$. If they pass the first, they move on to Stage 2, where the…
In an e-sports tournament, a player has to pass two stages. In Stage 1, the probability of success is $0,8$. If they pass the first, they move on to Stage 2, where the probability of success is $0,6$. If they do not pass the first stage, they are eliminated directly.
- a) Draw the corresponding tree diagram.
- b) Calculate the probability that the player successfully completes both stages of the tournament.
A high school senior has prepared $60 \%$ of the topics for a Geography exam. The exam consists of drawing a topic at random from a bag. If the drawn topic is one they…
A high school senior has prepared $60 \%$ of the topics for a Geography exam. The exam consists of drawing a topic at random from a bag. If the drawn topic is one they have studied, the probability of passing is $0,9$. If the topic is one they have not studied, the probability of passing drops to $0,2$.
- a) Draw a tree diagram with the data from the problem.
- b) What is the total probability that the student passes the exam?
In an E-sports tournament, a player must choose between two characters: "Warrior" or "Mage". The probability of choosing the Warrior is $60\,\%$. If they choose the…
In an E-sports tournament, a player must choose between two characters: "Warrior" or "Mage". The probability of choosing the Warrior is $60\,\%$. If they choose the Warrior, they have a $0,7$ probability of winning the match. If they choose the Mage, their probability of victory increases to $0,85$.
- a) Construct the tree diagram associated with the experiment.
- b) Calculate the probability that the player wins the match.
- c) If the player has lost the match, what is the probability that they chose the Warrior?
Adding Paths: When an Event Can Happen in More Than One Way
Often the event you care about shows up at the end of several paths. Coach Rivera's question is exactly that: the first shot can go in because Marcus started or because Aaliyah started.
Answer to your turn: $0.6 \cdot 0.5 + 0.4 \cdot 0.3 = 0.30 + 0.12 = 0.42$, and $1 - 0.58 = 0.42$.
Back to the start: the probability that the team's first shot goes in is $0.58$, or $58\%$.
To go to school, a teenager uses the bus $80 \%$ of the days and walks the rest. When they go by bus, they arrive late $5 \%$ of the time. However, when they walk, they…
To go to school, a teenager uses the bus $80 \%$ of the days and walks the rest. When they go by bus, they arrive late $5 \%$ of the time. However, when they walk, they arrive late $15 \%$ of the time because they get distracted on the way.
- a) Construct the tree diagram.
- b) Calculate the probability that on any given day they arrive at school on time.
A sportswear shop receives hoodies from two factories. Factory 1 supplies $60 \%$ of the stock and Factory 2 the remaining $40 \%$. $2 \%$ of the hoodies from Factory 1…
A sportswear shop receives hoodies from two factories. Factory 1 supplies $60 \%$ of the stock and Factory 2 the remaining $40 \%$. $2 \%$ of the hoodies from Factory 1 have a stitching defect, while in Factory 2 the percentage of defects is $5 \%$.
- a) Represent the situation with a probability tree.
- b) Calculate the probability that a hoodie chosen at random has no defects.
An online clothing store sends its orders via two logistics companies, A and B. $70\,\%$ of the orders are sent with company A and the rest with company B. It has been…
An online clothing store sends its orders via two logistics companies, A and B. $70\,\%$ of the orders are sent with company A and the rest with company B. It has been observed that $5\,\%$ of company A's orders arrive late, whereas in company B the delay affects $10\,\%$ of the parcels.
- a) Calculate the probability that an order arrives on time.
- b) If a customer receives their order late, what is the probability that it was transported by company A?
With and Without Replacement
When you draw items one after another, the second-level branches depend on whether you put the first item back.
Answer to your turn: $\dfrac{15}{56} + \dfrac{15}{56} = \dfrac{30}{56} = \dfrac{15}{28}$. As a check, the four paths add to $\dfrac{20+15+15+6}{56} = 1$.
If the chips were drawn with replacement, every second-level branch would be $\tfrac{5}{8}$ or $\tfrac{3}{8}$, and $P(RR)$ would be $\left(\tfrac{5}{8}\right)^2 = \tfrac{25}{64}$.
In an urn we have $4$ red balls and $6$ blue balls. We draw two balls successively without replacement (without putting the first ball back into the urn). a) Represent…
In an urn we have $4$ red balls and $6$ blue balls. We draw two balls successively without replacement (without putting the first ball back into the urn).
- a) Represent the process using a tree diagram indicating the probabilities on each branch. Bear in mind that the composition of the urn changes after the first draw.
- b) What is the probability that the two drawn balls are the same color?
In a digital urn of a game of chance there are 10 spheres: 6 blue and 4 white. The experiment consists of drawing two spheres successively and without replacement. a)…
In a digital urn of a game of chance there are 10 spheres: 6 blue and 4 white. The experiment consists of drawing two spheres successively and without replacement.
- a) Draw the tree diagram detailing the probabilities on each branch.
- b) Calculate the probability that the two spheres are the same color.
- c) Calculate the probability that the first sphere is blue given that the second was white.
A high school senior has prepared 18 of the 25 topics for a History exam. The exam consists of choosing one topic from two drawn at random by the teacher. a) What is the…
A high school senior has prepared 18 of the 25 topics for a History exam. The exam consists of choosing one topic from two drawn at random by the teacher.
- a) What is the probability that the student knows both drawn topics?
- b) What is the probability that the student passes the exam (that is, they know at least one of the two topics)?
- c) If the student has passed the exam, what is the probability that they knew only one of the two drawn topics?
Working Backward: Conditional Probability from a Tree
A tree naturally gives you probabilities in the order things happen ("the email is spam, then it gets flagged"). But often you know the result and want to know the cause: "the email was flagged; how likely is it that it is really spam?" That is a conditional probability in the reverse direction.
This formula is also known as Bayes' Theorem, which gets its own page later in this chapter. For now, the tree does the work.
Answer to your turn: $\dfrac{0.190}{0.206} \approx 0.922$.
Another way to see it: imagine $1{,}000$ emails. About $200$ are spam and $190$ of those get flagged. About $800$ are legitimate and $16$ of those get flagged. Of the $206$ flagged emails, $190$ are spam, and $\tfrac{190}{206} \approx 0.922$.
A popular video game streamer* broadcasts content on three different platforms: Twitch, YouTube and TikTok Live. According to their statistics, $45\,\%$ of their…
A popular video game streamer broadcasts content on three different platforms: Twitch, YouTube and TikTok Live. According to their statistics, $45\,\%$ of their followers watch their live streams on Twitch, $35\,\%$ on YouTube and the remaining $20\,\%$ on TikTok. It is known that the percentage of followers who interact in the chat is $12\,\%$ on Twitch, $8\,\%$ on YouTube and $25\,\%$ on TikTok.
If we choose a follower of this streamer at random:
- a) Represent the situation using a tree diagram.
- b) Calculate the probability that the chosen follower interacts in the chat.
- c) If we know that the chosen follower does not interact in the chat, what is the probability that they are a YouTube follower?
A health application uses a smart sensor to detect whether a user is doing intense aerobic exercise. The sensor is able to correctly detect the activity $98\,\%$ of the…
A health application uses a smart sensor to detect whether a user is doing intense aerobic exercise. The sensor is able to correctly detect the activity $98\,\%$ of the time. However, when the user is resting or walking slowly, the sensor gives a "false positive" (erroneously indicates that they are doing intense exercise) in $3\,\%$ of cases. According to data from the user community, it is estimated that they spend $15\,\%$ of their time doing intense activity.
- a) What is the probability that, at a randomly chosen moment, the application indicates that the user is doing intense exercise?
- b) If the application indicates that the user is doing intense exercise, calculate the probability that they are actually resting or walking slowly.
A wireless headphones factory produces two models: "Basic" and "Pro". $65\,\%$ of the production corresponds to the Basic model. Quality control detects that $2\,\%$ of…
A wireless headphones factory produces two models: "Basic" and "Pro". $65\,\%$ of the production corresponds to the Basic model. Quality control detects that $2\,\%$ of the Basic headphones are defective, while for the Pro model the percentage of defective units is $1\,\%$.
- a) Calculate the probability that a headphone chosen at random is defective.
- b) If a headphone is defective, which model is it most likely to be? Justify your answer by calculating the posterior probabilities.
Longer Trees: Three or More Stages
Nothing new happens when there are more stages. Add a level, and every node on the previous level sprouts its own set of branches. Multiply along each full path, add the paths that fit your event, and always check that all end-of-path probabilities add to $1$.
Answer to your turn: $\dfrac{0.0408}{0.0872} \approx 0.468$.
On an e-sports platform, players are classified according to their rank into: Bronze (50%), Silver (30%) and Gold (20%). It has been observed that the probability of a…
On an e-sports platform, players are classified according to their rank into: Bronze (50%), Silver (30%) and Gold (20%). It has been observed that the probability of a player cheating (using prohibited software) depends on their rank: in Bronze it is 2%, in Silver it is 5% and in Gold it is 10%. The FairPlay security system correctly detects a cheater 98% of the time, but gives a "false positive" (accuses a clean player) in 1% of cases.
- a) Draw the tree diagram representing the situation of a randomly chosen player going through the security check.
- b) Calculate the probability that the FairPlay system issues a "cheating player" alert.
- c) If the system has issued an alert, what is the probability that the player is actually innocent and of Gold rank?
A study on sleep habits among teenagers reveals that 25% sleep less than 6 hours, 60% sleep between 6 and 8 hours, and the rest sleep more than 8 hours. The probability…
A study on sleep habits among teenagers reveals that 25% sleep less than 6 hours, 60% sleep between 6 and 8 hours, and the rest sleep more than 8 hours. The probability of lacking concentration in the first morning class is 0.8 for the first group, 0.3 for the second and 0.1 for the third. Furthermore, if a student lacks concentration, the probability of forgetting to hand in their homework is 0.7, whereas if they are concentrated this probability drops to 0.05.
- a) Calculate the probability that a randomly chosen student forgets to hand in their homework.
- b) If a student has handed in their homework correctly, what is the probability that they belong to the group that sleeps more than 8 hours?
In a wind turbine factory, 1% of the blades have structural micro-cracks. An ultrasound scanning system is used which detects the crack with a probability of 0.99.…
In a wind turbine factory, 1% of the blades have structural micro-cracks. An ultrasound scanning system is used which detects the crack with a probability of 0.99. However, the scanner has a probability of 0.03 of indicating that there is a crack when the blade is sound. To ensure control, if the scanner indicates "crack", a second independent manual test is carried out which detects the real crack with a probability of 0.95 and has a 1% margin of error on sound blades.
- a) Calculate the probability that a blade goes through both tests and is declared "defective".
- b) If a blade has been declared "defective" after the two tests, what is the probability that it actually has no micro-cracks?
Trees Whose Rules Change Along the Way
In harder problems, what happens in stage 2 (or whether stage 3 even exists) depends on what happened earlier. Examples: a hot streak that raises a shooter's chances, a ball moved from one urn to another, or "if the first item is defective, flip a coin to decide whether to draw again." The method is the same, but every node needs its own probabilities, computed from the history of that node.
Answer to your turn: $\dfrac{0.56}{0.71} \approx 0.789$.
Three friends, Ethan, Chloe, and Sophia, play a turn-based strategy game. The probability of Ethan winning is $P(H) = 0,2$, Chloe's is $P(S) = 0,5$ and Sophia's is…
Three friends, Ethan, Chloe, and Sophia, play a turn-based strategy game. The probability of Ethan winning is $P(H) = 0,2$, Chloe's is $P(S) = 0,5$ and Sophia's is $P(C) = 0,3$. After winning a game, the probability of the same player winning the next one increases by 20% with respect to their initial probability (subtracting this difference proportionally from the other two players).
- a) If Chloe wins the first game, construct the probability tree for the second game.
- b) Calculate the probability that Chloe wins the first two games.
- c) If we know that Chloe has won the second game, what is the probability that Sophia won the first?
There is a box with 10 smartphones, 3 of which have a defective screen. Two phones are drawn at random, one after the other and without replacement. If the first one…
There is a box with 10 smartphones, 3 of which have a defective screen. Two phones are drawn at random, one after the other and without replacement.
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If the first one drawn is defective, a biased coin is tossed where the probability of heads is 0.7. If it lands on heads, a third phone is drawn from the box.
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If the first one drawn is not defective, a fair die is rolled. If a number greater than 4 is rolled, a third phone is drawn.
- a) Calculate the probability that the total number of defective phones drawn is exactly 2.
- b) Given that at the end of the experiment exactly 2 defective phones have been drawn, what is the probability that the first phone drawn was fine?
There are three urns with the following composition of colored balls: Urn $U_1$: 5 white, 3 black and 2 red. Urn $U_2$: 4 white and 6 black. Urn $U_3$: 2 white, 5 black…
There are three urns with the following composition of colored balls:
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Urn $U_1$: 5 white, 3 black and 2 red.
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Urn $U_2$: 4 white and 6 black.
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Urn $U_3$: 2 white, 5 black and 3 red.
The experiment consists of rolling a fair die. If a prime number is rolled, a ball is drawn from $U_1$. If a composite number is rolled, a ball is drawn from $U_2$. In any other case, it is drawn from $U_3$. After the draw, the ball is placed into the urn from which it was not drawn that has the most white balls at that moment (in the event of a tie, $U_3$ is chosen). Finally, a second ball is drawn from that last urn.
- a) Construct the detailed tree diagram for the two draws.
- b) What is the probability that the second ball drawn is red?
- c) If the second ball was red, what is the probability that the first was white?