Question

Suppose it is certain that an earthquake will occur someday. What is the probability (to the nearest percent) that it will occur while you are at work? Assume you are at work 8 hours per day, 240 days per year.

Answer 1

22%

Explanation:

Given that:

Number of hours at work daily = 8 hours

Number of days at work per year = 240

Total number of hours at work per year = Number of hours at work daily
`*` Number of days at work per year

Total number of hours at work per year = 8
`*` 240 = 1920 hours

Total number of days in an year = 365

Total number of hours per day = 24

Total number of hours in an year = 24
`*` 365 = 8760

Here, to find the probability that the earthquake will occur while the person is at work, we actually have to find the fraction of number of hours at work to the total number of hours in an year.

Therefore, the required probability is:

`(1920)/(8760) \approx \bold{0.2191}`

Therefore the probability to the nearest percent is: 22%