Final answer:
To find the probability of obtaining a score of less than 8, count the outcomes less than 8 (which are 2) and divide by the total outcomes (6), resulting in 0.3333 or 33.33%.
Step-by-step explanation:
You asked, "What percentage of the time will someone obtain a score of less than 8?" for the given distribution (5,8,1,12,8,9). To find the probability of getting a score of less than 8, we must count the number of outcomes less than 8 and divide by the total number of outcomes in the distribution. Looking at the numbers, we see two values are less than 8, which are 5 and 1. The total number of outcomes is 6. So the calculation will be 2 (number of outcomes less than 8) divided by 6 (total number of outcomes).
P(X<8) = Number of outcomes less than 8 / Total number of outcomes = 2 / 6 = 0.3333 or 33.33% (rounded to four decimal places)