Question

A hardware store has one basket with 40 pairs of slip-joint pliers. 5 of the 40 pairs are 6-inch slip-joint pliers. A second basket contains 20 rubber mallets. 3 of the 20 rubber mallets are small rubber mallets. What is the probability of picking a pair of 6-inch slip-joint pliers and not drawing a small rubber mallet?

Answer 1

`(85)/(800)` or
`(17)/(160)` simplified

Explanation:

In order to find the probability of this sequence of events happening we first need to find the probability of each event happening seperately and then multiply them together.

If there are 40 slip-joint pliers and only 5 are 6-inch then the probability of picking a 6-inch plier is 5/40. If there are a total of 20 rubber malets and only 3 are small then the probability of picking a non-small rubber mallet would be 17/20... Now we simply multiply these two probabilities together...

`(5 *17)/(40 * 20)` =
`(85)/(800)` or
`(17)/(160)` simplified