ALEKS 1/12/20, 11'56 AM

Learning

QUESTION

Suppose that a certain college class contains 45 students. Of these, 24 are

sophomores, 27 are physics majors, and 10 are neither. A student is selected
at random from the class.

(a) What is the probability that the student is both a sophomore

and a physics major?

(b) Given that the student selected is a sophomore, what is the

probability that she is also a physics major?

Write your responses as fractions. (If necessary, consult a list of formulas.)

EXPLANATION

Let A be the event "the student selected is a sophomore," and B be the event
"the student selected is a physics major."

Since there are 24 sophomores in the class, the probability of choosing a

24
sophomore from the class is P A = .
45
Similarly, since there are 27 physics majors in the class, the probability of
27
choosing a physics major from the class is P B = .
45
In addition, we are told that 10 students in the class are neither sophomores
10
nor physics majors. Thus, P A ∪ B = , which means that
45
10 35
P A∪B =1− = (using the complement rule).
45 45

(a) We are asked to find P A∩B . By the addition More about this
formula, we have formula

P A∩B = P A +P B −P A∪B
24 27 35
= + −
45 45 45
16
=
45

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ALEKS 1/12/20, 11'56 AM

(b) We are asked to find P B |A . By the definition of conditional probability,

we have

P B∩A
P B |A =
P A
16
45
=
24
45
16
=
24
2
=
3

ANSWER

16
(a)
45
2
(b)
3

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