Question

A physics professor wants to know what percent of physics majors will spend the next several years doing post graduate research. He has the following probability distribution. Find the probability that a physics major will do post graduate research for at most three years. (Enter an exact number as an integer, fraction, or decimal) P(x < 3) *the “<“ has a line under it*

Answer 1

We are given the probability in the table (P(x)) and we are asked the probability that a physics major will do postgraduate research for at most three years (P (x ≤ 3)).

In this case, we can add the probabilities from year 1 until year 3 and solve:

`P(x\le3)=P(1)+P(2)+P(3)`
`P(x\le3)=0.35+0.30+0.1`
`P(x\le3)=0.75`

Answer: 0.75