Final answer:
The probability of selecting a red ball from a bowl containing an equal number of red and blue balls is 1/2, meaning there's a 50% chance of choosing a red ball.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks about the probability of selecting a red ball from a bowl that contains an equal number of red and blue balls. To find the probability of an event happening, you can use the formula P(event) = Number of favorable outcomes / Total number of outcomes.
In this instance, the total number of outcomes is the total number of balls, which is 20 (10 red balls + 10 blue balls). The number of favorable outcomes for our event, which is choosing a red ball, is 10. Therefore, the probability of choosing a red ball is 10/20, which simplifies to 1/2.
The correct answer is a) 1/2, meaning there's a 50% chance that the ball chosen will be red. This is a straightforward example of probability that falls under the subject of mathematics typically covered in middle school education.