Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Simple probability math problems

I would say probability is largely encountered in our daily life. Probability is very interesting. Let’s explore it together.

Start from the easy part. If you roll a die, what is the chance that you get a 5? Or an 1? Or a 2?
Ans: 1/6. You have six probabilities. 1, 2...6, and the chance of getting each number is the same. So the probability of getting each number is 1/6,

If you have a bag where there are 3 white balls and 3 red balls. If you pick out one ball, what is the chance of getting a red ball?

Ans: 3/6 (1/2). Same as the first example, you have six choices. However, you have 3 red balls that mean you have three cases in which you will get a red ball.

If you pick out two balls, what is the chance of getting a white and a red ball?
Ans: 3/6*3/5=9/30=3/10
3/10*2=3/5
Now you know for the first one you can get a red ball and the probability is 3/6. After that, there are only 5 balls in the bag. So the probability of getting a white ball is 3/5. Multiply them together. Remember there are two ways of getting a white and a red ball. You can get a red ball first, or a white ball first. So the answer is 3/5!

Your math problem:
What is the probability of getting two red balls?
Ans: 3/6*2/5=1/5 and...