Question:medium

A bag contains 5 red, 3 blue, and 2 green balls. If two balls are drawn at random without replacement, what is the probability that both are red?

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Use combinations to calculate probabilities when dealing with random draws without replacement.
Updated On: Mar 28, 2026
  • \( \frac{1}{2} \)
  • \( \frac{1}{3} \)
  • \( \frac{5}{9} \)
  • \( \frac{2}{9} \)
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

To solve this problem, we need to find the probability that both balls drawn are red when two balls are drawn at random from the bag without replacement.

Step 1: Calculate Total Number of Ways to Draw Two Balls

The bag contains 5 red, 3 blue, and 2 green balls, making a total of 10 balls.

The total number of ways to choose 2 balls out of 10 is given by the combination formula:

\(C(n, r) = \frac{n!}{r!(n-r)!}\)

Therefore, the number of ways to choose 2 balls from 10 is:

\(C(10, 2) = \frac{10!}{2!(10-2)!} = \frac{10 \times 9}{2 \times 1} = 45\)

Step 2: Calculate Number of Favorable Ways to Draw Two Red Balls

The number of ways to choose 2 red balls from the 5 red balls is:

\(C(5, 2) = \frac{5!}{2!(5-2)!} = \frac{5 \times 4}{2 \times 1} = 10\)

Step 3: Calculate the Probability

The probability that both balls drawn are red is given by the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the total number of outcomes:

\(\text{Probability} = \frac{\text{Number of favorable outcomes}}{\text{Total number of outcomes}} = \frac{10}{45} = \frac{2}{9}\)

Therefore, the probability that both balls are red is \(\frac{2}{9}\).

Conclusion:

The correct answer is \(\frac{2}{9}\).

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