Question

when a particular type of thumbtack is dropped, it will land point up or point down . This experiment was repeated 100 times with the following results: POINT UP: 48 times; point down: 52 times. a. what is the experimental probability that a particular type of thumbtack will land point up? b. what is the experimental probability that a particular type of thumbtack will land point down?c. if the experiment was tried another 100 times would the same results occur? Why? d. is it expected that nearly the same results occur on a second trial? why?

Answer 1

a. The probability that a particular type of thumbtack will land point up is

`(n(A))/(n(S))`

where n(A) is the number of times that thumtack will land point up.

n(S) is the cardinality of sample space.

n(A)=48 and n(S)=100

Hence the required probabilty is

`(48)/(100)=0.48`

b. Similary the probability for point down is

`(52)/(100)=0.52`

where n(B) = 52 here.

c.If the experiment is tried for another 100 times then sample space would change and hence we cannot get the same probability.

d.If we change the number of experiment times then we cannot get the same result in second trial since the sample space would have been changed.