Question

Over the next two days, Ava, Ryan and Zach will present their projects to the class. The order of their presentations will be randomly selected. What is the probability that the students will be selected in reverse alphabetical order on the first day?

Answer 1

To find the probability of selecting the students in reverse alphabetical order let's understand when will this happen.

This situation will be presented if the students are selected in the following order: Zach, Ryan and Ava.

The probability of selecting Zach first is:

`P=(1)/(3)`

The probability of selecting Ryan in the second place is:

`P=(1)/(2)`

Finally, the probability of selecting Ava at last is one (since there's no other student to select).

Finally, the probability of choosing them in that order is the product of the probabilities we found:

`P=((1)/(3))((1)/(2))(1)=(1)/(6)`

Therefore, the probability of selecting the students in reverse alphabetical order is 1/6