Question

There are 20 children in the cast of a class play, and 8 of the children are boys. of the boys, 4 have a speaking part in the play, and of the girls, 8 do not have a speaking part in the play. if a child from the cast of the play is chosen at random, what is the probability that the child has a speaking part?a. 2/5b. 1/2c. 3/5d. 3/4

Answer 1

Explanation:

Answer 2

it all looks confusing when we try to juggle with all those numbers in the head. The problem can be solved systematically by constructing a contingency table.
role/gender B G total
speaking...... 4 4 8
silent............ 4 8 12
total............. 8 12 20
Probability of a child having a speaking part is therefore
(4+4)/20=8/20=2/5
a. 2/5