4. Probability

Probability of a Girl Assuming that boys and girls are equally likely, find the probability of a couple having a boy when their third child is born, given that the first two children were both girls.

Births in the United States In the United States, the true probability of a baby being a boy is 0.512 (based on the data available at this writing). For a family having three children, find the following.

b. The probability that all three children are boys.

Births in the United States In the United States, the true probability of a baby being a boy is 0.512 (based on the data available at this writing). For a family having three children, find the following.

d. The probability that at least one of the children is a girl.

Alarm Clock Life Hack Each of us must sometimes wake up early for something really important, such as a final exam, job interview, or an early flight. (Professional golfer Jim Furyk was disqualified from a tournament when his cellphone lost power and he overslept.) Assume that a battery-powered alarm clock has a 0.005 probability of failure, a smartphone alarm clock has a 0.052 probability of failure, and an electric alarm clock has a 0.001 probability of failure.

b. If you use a battery-powered alarm clock and a smartphone alarm clock, what is the probability that they both fail? What is the probability that both of them do not fail?

In Exercises 29 and 30, find the probabilities and indicate when the “5% guideline for cumbersome calculations” is used.

Medical Helicopters In a study of helicopter usage and patient survival, results were obtained from 47,637 patients transported by helicopter and 111,874 patients transported by ground (based on data from “Association Between Helicopter vs Ground Emergency Medical Services and Survival for Adults with Major Trauma,” by Galvagno et al., Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 307, No. 15).

b. If 5 of the subjects in the study are randomly selected without replacement, what is the probability that all of them were transported by helicopter?

Surge Protectors Refer to the accompanying figure showing surge protectors p and q used to protect an expensive television. If there is a surge in the voltage, the surge protector reduces it to a safe level. Assume that each surge protector has a 0.985 probability of working correctly when a voltage surge occurs.

a. If the two surge protectors are arranged in series, what is the probability that a voltage surge will not damage the television? (Do not round the answer.)

Surge Protectors Refer to the accompanying figure showing surge protectors p and q used to protect an expensive television. If there is a surge in the voltage, the surge protector reduces it to a safe level. Assume that each surge protector has a 0.985 probability of working correctly when a voltage surge occurs.

c. Which arrangement should be used for better protection?

Unseen Coins A statistics professor tosses two coins that cannot be seen by any students. One student asks this question: “Did one of the coins turn up heads?” Given that the professor’s response is “yes,” find the probability that both coins turned up heads.

Blue Eyes Assume that 35% of us have blue eyes (based on a study by Dr. P. Soria at Indiana University).

c. Find the probability of randomly selecting three different people and finding that all of them have blue eyes.

In Exercises 9–20, use the data in the following table, which lists survey results from high school drivers at least 16 years of age (based on data from “Texting While Driving and Other Risky Motor Vehicle Behaviors Among U.S. High School Students,” by O’Malley, Shults, and Eaton, Pediatrics, Vol. 131, No. 6). Assume that subjects are randomly selected from those included in the table. Hint: Be very careful to read the question correctly.

Drinking and Driving If two of the high school drivers are randomly selected, find the probability that they both drove when drinking alcohol.

b. Assume that the selections are made without replacement. Are the events independent?

In Exercises 9–20, use the data in the following table, which lists survey results from high school drivers at least 16 years of age (based on data from “Texting While Driving and Other Risky Motor Vehicle Behaviors Among U.S. High School Students,” by O’Malley, Shults, and Eaton, Pediatrics, Vol. 131, No. 6). Assume that subjects are randomly selected from those included in the table. Hint: Be very careful to read the question correctly.

Texting While Driving If two of the high school drivers are randomly selected, find the probability that they both texted while driving.

a. Assume that the selections are made with replacement. Are the events independent?

In Exercises 9–20, use the data in the following table, which lists survey results from high school drivers at least 16 years of age (based on data from “Texting While Driving and Other Risky Motor Vehicle Behaviors Among U.S. High School Students,” by O’Malley, Shults, and Eaton, Pediatrics, Vol. 131, No. 6). Assume that subjects are randomly selected from those included in the table. Hint: Be very careful to read the question correctly.

Texting and Alcohol If three of the high school drivers are randomly selected from the 4720 subjects who did not text while driving, find the probability that all three drove when drinking.

a. Assume that the selections are made with replacement. Are the events independent?

In Exercises 9–20, use the data in the following table, which lists survey results from high school drivers at least 16 years of age (based on data from “Texting While Driving and Other Risky Motor Vehicle Behaviors Among U.S. High School Students,” by O’Malley, Shults, and Eaton, Pediatrics, Vol. 131, No. 6). Assume that subjects are randomly selected from those included in the table. Hint: Be very careful to read the question correctly.

Texting and Alcohol If one of the high school drivers is randomly selected, find the probability that the selected driver did not text while driving and did not drive when drinking.

In Exercises 9–20, use the data in the following table, which lists survey results from high school drivers at least 16 years of age (based on data from “Texting While Driving and Other Risky Motor Vehicle Behaviors Among U.S. High School Students,” by O’Malley, Shults, and Eaton, Pediatrics, Vol. 131, No. 6). Assume that subjects are randomly selected from those included in the table. Hint: Be very careful to read the question correctly.

Texting and Alcohol If four different high school drivers are randomly selected, find the probability that they all texted while driving.

Vision Correction About 75% of the U.S. population uses some type of vision correction (such as glasses or contact lenses).

b. If four different people are randomly selected, what is the probability that they all use vision correction?