Question

A poorly-built machine has three components that can independently fail with a

probability of 1/3. The machine will fail if any component fails. What is the probability
that the machine fails?

Answer 1

Answer: 19/27

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Step-by-step explanation:

Each component has 1/3 as the probability of failure.

1 - 1/3 = 2/3 is the probability a particular component works.

Each component is independent of one another, allowing us to multiply the probabilities: (2/3)*(2/3)*(2/3) = 8/27

8/27 is the probability that all three components work simultaneously, and it's the probability that the machine works.

1 - 8/27 = 19/27 represents the probability that at least one component fails, and hence causes the entire machine to fail also.

19/27 = 0.7037 = 70.37% approximately. It appears this machine fails pretty often.