Q.
A bag contains 10 different balls. Five balls are drawn simultaneously and then replaced and then seven balls are drawn. The probability that exactly three balls are common to the two drawn is
The number of ways of drawing 7 balls (second draws) =10C7.
For each set of 7 balls of the second draw 3 must be common to the set of 5 balls of the first draw, i.e., 2 other balls can be drawn in 3C2 ways.
Thus, for each set of 7 balls of the second draw, there are 7C3×3C2 ways of making the first draw so that there are 3 balls common.
Hence, the probability of having 3 balls in common =10C77C3×3C2=125