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According to a study, 60% of people who are murdered knew their murderer. suppose that in a particular state there are currently 50 current cold cases. what is the probability that of those 50 cold cases, between 28 and 33 of them knew their murderer?

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Final answer:

The question involves calculating the probability of a number of specific outcomes in a binomial distribution, which can be done using either the binomial probability formula or normal approximation for larger datasets.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is asking about the probability of a certain outcome (the number of cold case victims who knew their murderer) given a particular probability (60% knew their murderer). Since the number of cold cases is 50, this question can be approached using the binomial probability formula:

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

Where:

  • n is the number of trials (cold cases), which is 50.
  • k is the number of successes (cases where the victim knew their murderer).
  • p is the probability of a success on each trial, which is 0.60.

To find the probability for the range of 28 to 33, we would calculate the binomial probability for each value of k within that range and sum them up.

However, with a large number like 50, this could become cumbersome, and it might be more efficient to use normal approximation to the binomial distribution. This would involve finding the z-scores for the lower and upper bounds and then using standard normal distribution tables or a calculator to find the corresponding probabilities.

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