Question

Julia has 14 pencils in a bag. There are 7 red pencils, 3 green pencils, and 4 blue pencils. Without looking, she picks one pencil out of the bag and places it on her desk. She then picks a second pencil from the bag. What is the probability that the first pencil is red and the second pencil is blue?

A.
1 over 7
B.
2 over 13
C.
1 third
D.
11 over 14

Answer 1

1/7

Explanation:

If there are 14 pencils and 7 are red then the equation would be 14-7 which is 7.

Answer 2

1 over 7

Explanation:

To find the probability that the first pencil is red and the second pencil is blue, we need to consider the number of ways in which this outcome can occur compared to the total number of possible outcomes.

There are 7 red pencils in the bag, and Julia picks one of them on the first draw, so there is a 1 in 7 chance of her picking a red pencil. There are 4 blue pencils in the bag, and Julia picks one of them on the second draw, so there is a 1 in 4 chance of her picking a blue pencil.

Since the probability of each event is independent of the other, we can multiply the probability of each event to find the probability of both events occurring.

Therefore, the probability that the first pencil is red and the second pencil is blue is:

(1 in 7) * (1 in 4) = 1/7 * 1/4 = 1/28

The probability that the first pencil is red and the second pencil is blue is 1/28, which is equivalent to choice A: 1 over 7. The other choices are not equivalent to this probability.