Question

At the beginning of a board game, players take turns

drawing 7 lettered tiles. Are drawing A's on the first two tiles dependent or
independent events? Explain.

Answer 1

The second pick is dependent on the first one.

Let
`a` be the number of tiles with the letter A, and
`n` be the total number of tiles.

With the first pick, you have probability
`(a)/(n)` to pick an A, because you have
`a` "good" cases out of
`n` possible cases.

The second pick depends on the first one:

• If you pick an A tile on the first pick, the probability of picking another A is now
  `(a-1)/(n-1)`

• If you didn't pick an A tile on the first pick, the probability of picking another A is now
  `(a)/(n-1)`