Question

Erica will randomly select 1 shirt and 1 pair of shorts to wear to the beach today. This table shows the choices she has for shirts and shorts. What is theprobability that Erica will select a red striped shirt and jean shorts?1/151/42/151/8

Answer 1

Since the events are mutually exclusive, we can write

`P(\text{red striped}\cap jean\text{ shorts)=P(red striped)}* P(jean\text{ shorts)}`

the probability to select the red striped shirt is

`P(\text{red striped)=}(1)/(5)`

because there are 5 choices. In the same way, the probability to select the jean shorts is

`P(\text{jean shorts)=}(1)/(3)`

because there are 3 choices. Then, by substituting these results into our first equation, we get

`\begin{gathered} P(\text{red striped}\cap jean\text{ shorts)=}(1)/(5)*(1)/(3) \\ P(\text{red striped}\cap jean\text{ shorts)=}(1)/(15) \end{gathered}`

that is, 1/15