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A test to determine whether a certain antibody is present is 99.8​% effective. This means that the test will accurately come back negative if the antibody is not present​ (in the test​ subject) 99.8​% of the time. The probability of a test coming back positive when the antibody is not present​ (a false​ positive) is 0.002. Suppose the test is given to seven randomly selected people who do not have the antibody. ​(a) What is the probability that the test comes back negative for all seven ​people? ​(b) What is the probability that the test comes back positive for at least one of the seven ​people?

User Arenaq
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Answer: The probability that the test comes back negative for all seven people is approximately 98.6%.

The probability that the test comes back positive for at least one of the seven people is approximately 1.4%.

Explanation:

(a) To find the probability that the test comes back negative for all seven people, we can multiply the probabilities of each person testing negative.

Given that the test is 99.8% effective, the probability of a person testing negative is 0.998. Since the test is given to seven people who do not have the antibody, we can calculate the probability as:

P(negative for all) = (0.998)^7

Calculating this probability, we get:

P(negative for all) ≈ 0.986

Therefore, the probability that the test comes back negative for all seven people is approximately 0.986.

(b) To find the probability that the test comes back positive for at least one of the seven people, we can calculate the complement of the probability that all seven people test negative.

The complement of the probability that all seven people test negative is the probability that at least one person tests positive. So, we have:

P(at least one positive) = 1 - P(negative for all)

Substituting the previously calculated value of P(negative for all), we get:

P(at least one positive) = 1 - 0.986

Calculating this probability, we find:

P(at least one positive) ≈ 0.014

Therefore, the probability that the test comes back positive for at least one of the seven people is approximately 0.014.

I hope this helps :)

User Ingulit
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