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On Sarah's shelf are 6 mystery books,5 science books,4 history books, and 3 adventure books. What is the probability of NOT selecting a mystery book?

User Invisbo
by
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1 Answer

6 votes

Answer:

Probability of Sarah NOT selecting a mystery book = 0.67

Explanation:

Probability helps to show how likely an event will occur;

The probability an event will not occur can be obtained by subtracting the probability that the event will occur from 1.

We can take this route to solve this problem

The probability of picking an option from a broad list of alternatives can be calculated using the formula:

Probability = number of expected outcomes/ total number of options

For our problem, there are only 6 mystery books on the shelf. Hence, the number of expected outcomes is = 6. Sarah cannot pick any more than 6 mystery books, and any mystery book she picks will be from that lot.

The total number of options refers to the total number of books available to pick from; whether mystery, science history, and adventure.

We can get this by adding 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 = 18

Probability of Sarah selecting a mystery book = 6/18

Probability of Sarah NOT selecting a mystery book = 1 - (6/18) = 0.67

User ProbablyCorey
by
5.6k points
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