Question

A teacher plans a simulation to estimate the probability that a student will pick a vowel out of a bag of 26 tiles, each with a different letter of the alphabet. She assigns the number 1 to represent a vowel and the number 2 to represent a consonant in a simulation be a fair representation of actual results? Why or why not?

Answer 1

No, because the probabilities of drawing a vowel versus a constant are not equally likely.

Explanation:

Each number in a random number generator is equally likely. If she assigns only the number 1 to vowels and only the number 2 to consonants, she will get results showing that they are equally likely.

In reality, 5 of the 26 letters are vowels (not including y). The teacher should assign numbers 1 through 5 to vowels, and numbers 6 through 26 to consonants. This will be a fair representation.