How can you figure out the probability of something mathematically? for instance John has 6 yellow gum balls, 5 red, 8 blue and 9 green. What is the probability he will reach in his bag and pull out a green one? What is the Mathematical equation to figure this out. Please help, I really don't understand probability.
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
Probability means the chance or likelihood of an event happening.
Out of all the possible events, a certain event has a probability of happening. If it has no possibility of happening (i.e. impossible) the probability is zero. If it is certain to happen, the probability is 1.
Thus all probability values lie between 0 and 1.
In the case of the colored balls, there are 9 green balls, and a total of 28 balls (of all colors). So if he picks one ball at random the probability of drawing a green ball is 9/28. The prob of drawing a red one is 5/28.
You can also write these as 9 in 28 and 5 in 28. You can also write them as decimals.
And that is the mathematical equation. Actually it is not an equation but a simple fraction.
Mozza314
At this level, we say:
P = (number of favourable outcomes) / (number of possible outcomes)
So when we're looking for the probability of a green gum ball, the favourable outcome is pulling out a green gum ball.
P = 6 / (6 + 5 + 8 + 9)
(6 green gum balls, 6+5+8+9 total gum balls)
So P = 6 / 28 = 3 / 14
?
There are 6+5+8+9 = 28 total gumballs, and 9 of them are green, so there will be a 9/28 chance that he will pick a green one.
Mdogboy
there are 28 gum balls in total
there are 9 green ones
therefore the probability of randomly selecting a green gumball is
9/28
he has 9 chances of getting the green one out of a possible 28 gum balls
HaSiCiT Bust A Tie A1 TieBusters
try~
6 yellow
5 red
8 blue
9 green
28 in total~of which
the 6 yellow are 21%0f total
the 5 red are 18% of total
the 8 blue are 28% of total
the 9 green are 32% of total
the totals are to the nearest whole number ~thus they only add up to 99%
so using these %'s
john would (in theory) get a green ball 32% of the time(approx 1 third of the time)
so john would get a green ball on average on every third "dip " in the bag
or you could say he as a 1in 3 chance of getting a green ball
hope this helps