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Some high school chemistry students conducted an experiment 1,271 times. The experiment succeeded 836 times. Assuming the results of the experiment are accurate, how many times would the experiment be expected to fail, given 732 trials? Round your answer to the nearest whole number

a) 251 failures
b) 249 failures
c) 215 failures
d) 256 failures

User Fusio
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Final answer:

Given the experiment's historical success rate from the original 1,271 trials, where it failed 435 times, the expected number of failures in 732 trials is calculated as 251 when rounded to the nearest whole number.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the expected number of failures in 732 trials, based on the experiment's historical success rate, we can use the relative frequency of failure from the original 1,271 trials. First, we find out how many times the experiment failed in the original set.

Total trials = 1,271
Successful trials = 836
Failed trials = Total trials - Successful trials
Failed trials = 1,271 - 836 = 435 failures

Next, we calculate the experimental probability of failure.

Probability of failure = Failed trials / Total trials
Probability of failure = 435 / 1,271

With the probability of failure known, we can estimate the expected number of failures in a new set of 732 trials.

Expected failures in 732 trials = Probability of failure * New trials
Expected failures = (435 / 1,271) * 732

When you calculate this, you get an expected number of failures of approximately 250.68, which we'll round to the nearest whole number:

Expected failures ≈ 251 (rounded)

Therefore, the expected number of failures given 732 trials is approximately 251.

User Prakash H
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