Question

When filling out the 2000 Census, people could choose one of four options to describe their marital status. Data from the 2000 Census were used to compute the following probabilities.

Marital Status Never Married Married Widowed Divorced
Probability 0.239 0.595 0.068 ?
What is the probability that a randomly selected U.S. adult is divorced?
A. 0.239
B. 0.068
C. 0.902
D. 0.098

Answer 1

D. 0.098

Explanation:

The probabilities of all choices must total 1, so we have ...

p(never) + p(married) + p(widowed) + p(divorced) = 1

p(divorced) = 1 - (p(never) + p(married) + p(widowed))

= 1 - (0.239 + 0.595 + 0.068) = 1 - 0.902

p(divorced) = 0.098