Final answer:
The probability of rolling a 5 at least once when rolling a fair die seven times is approximately 0.665.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the probability of rolling a 5 at least once when rolling a fair die seven times, we can use the complement rule. The complement rule states that the probability of an event not happening is equal to 1 minus the probability of the event happening. In this case, the event is not rolling a 5 at all. The probability of rolling a number that is not 5 on any given roll is 5/6, since there are 6 numbers on the die and only 1 of them is a 5. To find the probability of not rolling a 5 over seven rolls, we can multiply the probabilities of not rolling a 5 on each roll:
- P(not rolling a 5) = 5/6
- P(not rolling a 5 on two rolls) = (5/6) * (5/6)
- P(not rolling a 5 on three rolls) = (5/6) * (5/6) * (5/6)
- ...
- P(not rolling a 5 on seven rolls) = (5/6) * (5/6) * (5/6) * (5/6) * (5/6) * (5/6) * (5/6)
The probability of rolling a 5 at least once is then equal to 1 minus the probability of not rolling a 5 on any of the seven rolls:
P(rolling a 5 at least once) = 1 - P(not rolling a 5 on seven rolls)
By plugging in the formula for P(not rolling a 5 on seven rolls), we can calculate the final probability:
P(rolling a 5 at least once) = 1 - (5/6)7 ≈ 0.665