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It is reported that 26% of American households use a cell phone exclusively for their telephone service. In a sample of nine households, find the probability that:

a) Various probability calculations
b) Exactly three households use a cell phone exclusively
c) More than six households use a cell phone exclusively
d) At least five households use a cell phone exclusively

1 Answer

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Final answer:

Using the binomial probability formula, we can find the probabilities of various scenarios concerning American households using cell phone service exclusively, with 26% as the given success rate and nine households in the sample.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject question is related to probability and involves the use of the binomial probability formula. With the given proportion of households using only cell phone service (26%), and the sample size of nine households, we can calculate the probabilities for various scenarios using the binomial distribution. The binomial probability formula is:

P(X = k) = C(n, k) * p^k * (1-p)^(n-k)

where:

  • P(X = k) is the probability of having k successes in n trials
  • n is the number of trials (households in this case)
  • k is the number of successes (households using cell phone exclusively)
  • p is the probability of success on an individual trial (0.26 in this case)
  • C(n, k) is the combination of n items taken k at a time

a) Exactly three households use a cell phone exclusively

Using the binomial probability formula:

P(X = 3) = C(9, 3) * (0.26)^3 * (1-0.26)^(9-3) which can be calculated to find the probability.

b) More than six households use a cell phone exclusively

For this, sum the probabilities for 7, 8, and 9 households:

P(X > 6) = P(X = 7) + P(X = 8) + P(X = 9)

c) At least five households use a cell phone exclusively

This is the sum of probabilities starting from 5 to 9 households:

P(X ≥ 5) = P(X = 5) + P(X = 6) + P(X = 7) + P(X = 8) + P(X = 9)

Each of these probabilities needs to be calculated individually and then summed.

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