Home / IB Mathematics SL 1.2 Arithmetic sequences and series AI HL Paper 1- Exam Style Questions

IB Mathematics SL 1.2 Arithmetic sequences and series AI HL Paper 1- Exam Style Questions- New Syllabus

Question

A disk has 10 white and 10 shaded sectors. White sector angles form an arithmetic sequence (\(u_1=6^{\circ}, d=3^{\circ}\)).
(a) Find the probability the arrow stops in a white sector.
(b) If spun 4 times, find the probability of landing on white at least 3 times.

Most-appropriate topic codes:

TOPIC SL 1.2: Arithmetic sequences and series — part (a)
TOPIC SL 4.8: Binomial distribution — part (b)
▶️ Answer/Explanation
Detailed solution

(a)
Sum of 10 white sector angles using \(S_n = \frac{n}{2}(2u_1 + (n-1)d)\):
\(S_{10} = \frac{10}{2}(2(6) + 9(3)) = 5(12 + 27) = 5(39) = 195^{\circ}\).
Probability \(p = \frac{195}{360}\) (or 0.542).

(b)
Using Binomial distribution \(X \sim B(4, \frac{195}{360})\).
We need \(P(X \ge 3) = P(X=3) + P(X=4)\).
Using GDC (Binomial CD or PDF sum):
Probability = 0.377

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