Question

A basketball player attempts eight free throws. Each attempt results in a score or a miss. Find the number of possible outcomes.

Answer 1

9

Explanation:

For one throw the probability of a miss is 1/2 since there are just two outcomes

Similarly for one throw the probability of a score is 1/2 since there are two outcomes.

Therefore for 8 trials we expect at least for different trials starting from 1

8 miss 0 score

7 miss 1 score

6 miss 2 score

5 miss 3 score

4 miss 4 score

3 miss 5 score

2 miss 6 score

1 miss 7 score

0 miss 8 score

So the number of possible outcomes is 9

And this define by what we call the binomial probability and is defined as