Probability Question 126

Question: Suppose $ n\ge 3 $ persons are sitting in a row. Two of them are selected at random. The probability that they are not together is

[Pb. CET 2004]

Options:

A) $ 1-\frac{2}{n} $

B) $ \frac{2}{n-1} $

C) $ 1-\frac{1}{n} $

D) None of these

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Answer:

Correct Answer: A

Solution:

Let there be n persons and $ (n-2) $ persons not selected are arranged in places stated above by stars and the selected 2 persons can be arranged at places stated by dots (dots are $ n-1 $ in number) So the favourable ways are $ ^{n-1}C_2 $ and the total ways are $ ^{n}C_2 $ , so $ \times \bullet \times \bullet \times \bullet \times \bullet \times \bullet \times $

$ P=\frac{^{n-1}C_2}{^{n}C_2}=\frac{(n-1)!2!(n-2)!}{(n-3)!2!n!}=\frac{n-2}{n}=1-\frac{2}{n} $ .