Question

Each year there are approximately 4 million births in a country, of which 125,000 are twin births (that is, 2 x 125,000 babies), 5700 are triplet births, and 400 are quadruplet births. Assume that births of five or more babies in one delivery are negligible in number.

What is the approximate probability that an expectant mother will give birth to more than one baby? Assume that multiple births are randomly distributed in the population The probability is approximately___

Answer 1

The probability that an expectant mother will give birth to more than one baby is approximately 6.7175%, calculated by dividing the number of babies born as multiples (268,700) by the total number of births (4,000,000).

Step-by-step explanation:

The question seeks to determine the probability that an expectant mother will have a multiple birth in a particular country, based on given birth statistics. To calculate this, we'll need to consider the numbers provided for twin births, triplet births, and quadruplet births, and compare them to the total number of births.

Firstly, there are 125,000 twin births, and since twins are two babies born at once, this accounts for 2 * 125,000 = 250,000 babies. Triplet births number 5,700, which represent 5,700 * 3 = 17,100 babies. Finally, there are 400 quadruplet births, amounting to 400 * 4 = 1,600 babies.

To find the total number of babies born as multiples, we add these figures together: 250,000 (twins) + 17,100 (triplets) + 1,600 (quadruplets) = 268,700 babies born as multiples. Since there are approximately 4 million births in total, the probability of a multiple birth is the number of multiples divided by the total number of births: 268,700 / 4,000,000.

Therefore, the probability of a multiple birth is approximately 0.067175, or 6.7175%.