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CBSE Sample Paper 2025-26 · Section A · 1 mark

Q18: Guessing a 6-digit PIN when the first 4 digits are known

Sample 2025-26Ch 13 · Probability
The question

A person observed the first 4 digits of your 6-digit PIN. What is the probability that the person can guess your PIN?

(A) 181\frac{1}{81}

(B) 1100\frac{1}{100}

(C) 190\frac{1}{90}

(D) 11

Exam answer

The person knows the first 4 digits, so only the last two digits must be guessed, each from 0 to 9.

Why?

Each digit of a PIN is one of the 10 digits 0 to 9, and digits may repeat. The 4 known digits are right for certain, with probability 1 each. Each unknown digit is guessed right with probability 110\frac{1}{10}⁠.

P(guessing the PIN)=1×1×1×1×110×110=1100\begin{aligned} &P(\text{guessing the PIN}) \\ &= 1 \times 1 \times 1 \times 1 \times \frac{1}{10} \times \frac{1}{10} \\ &= \frac{1}{100} \end{aligned}
Why?

Getting the fifth digit right and getting the sixth digit right are independent events EE and FF⁠, so the probabilities multiply:

P(E∩F)=P(E) P(F)P(E \cap F) = P(E)\,P(F)

Another way: the last two digits can be 10×10=10010 \times 10 = 100 equally likely pairs, and only one of them is right.

Watch out: 190\frac{1}{90} wrongly assumes the two digits are different, and 181\frac{1}{81} wrongly uses only 9 choices for each digit.

Answer: (B) 1100\dfrac{1}{100}

Where this comes from

Chapter 13, Probability: Probability: independent choices multiplied.

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