Answer:
See explanation and examples below.
Explanation:
The probability that an event (desired outcome) will occur is the quotient of the number of ways the event can occur (desired outcomes) and the total number of possible outcomes.
For example, consider a die. A die is a 6-faced cube with numbers 1 through 6 on its faces.
The total number of possible outcomes is 6 since it can land with any face with numbers 1 through 6 facing up.
What is the probability if getting a 5?
Here the desired outcome is a 5. There is only one desired outcome since only 1 face has a 5. The total number of possible outcome is 6.
p(5) = 1/6
The probability of getting a 5 is 1/6.
Another example:
A spinner has 4 sections of equal size.
1 section is red.
1 section is blue.
1 section is green.
1 section is yellow.
What is the probability of landing on red?
Desired outcome: landing on red
Number of desired outcomes: 2
Total number of possible outcomes: 4
p(red) = 1/4
Using the same spinner, what is the probability of landing on yellow or green?
Landing on the green section or landing on the yellow section are both desired outcomes, so the number of desired outcomes is 2.
The total number of outcomes is 4.
p(yellow or green) = 2/4 = 1/2