ISEE Lower Level Math : How to find the probability of an outcome

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for ISEE Lower Level Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #41 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

Bob and eight other people at his office enter into a raffle. Right before the winning raffle ticket is to be pulled from the bowl, Bob puts in one more raffle ticket. What is the probability that Bob wins the raffle?

Possible Answers:

10%

20%

15%

40%

Correct answer:

20%

Explanation:

We start with nine raffle tickets. Bob puts one more in right before the drawing, so now we have ten raffle tickets in total, two of which belong to Bob.

Since 2 out of 10 tickets will make Bob win, he has a 20% chance of winning.

Example Question #42 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

Bob had a bag of 20 strawberries, in which 4 were ripe. If he randomly picks 1 berry, what is the chance that he will get a an ripe strawberry?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We can find the chance by setting up a fraction of ripe strawberries out of total strawberries. We know that there are 20 strawberries in total, and that 4 of them are ripe.

We can reduce the fraction be removing a common factor.

Finally, we need to convert our fraction to a percentage.

There is a 20% chance that Bob will pick a ripe strawberry.

Example Question #43 : Data Analysis And Probability

Marta has six books. Three of her books are fiction, and three of her books are non-fiction. If Marta picks a book at random, what is the percent chance that the book will be fiction or non-fiction?

Possible Answers:

More information is needed to solve

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This question deals with a probability "or" statement. When a question asks about two different outcomes in the context of "or," you must add the probability of the two outcomes together.

If three of Marta's books are fiction and three are non-fiction, then we know that half of her books are fiction and half are non-fiction.

To find the chance of picking a fiction OR non-fiction book, we will need to add the two probabilities together.

There is a 100% chance that the book she picks will be fiction or non-fiction.

Example Question #44 : Data Analysis And Probability

Mary and Rebecca are in a class of 11 students (including themselves). The teacher has a bag containing the names of all her students. The first name she pulls out is Mary's name. The teacher tells Mary that she must reach into a bag to pick out her partner for a school project. What is the chance that Mary pulls out Rebecca's name?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Let's start by looking at how many names are left in the bag.

Before Mary's name was picked by the teacher, there were 11 names. However, since Mary's name has been removed, there are only 10 names left in the bag.

The chance that Mary picks Rebecca's name will be equal to:

Rebecca's name only appears once out of ten total names:

The chance that Mary picks Rebecca will be equal to one-tenth, or 10%.

Example Question #45 : Data Analysis And Probability

There are 5 packets of hot chocolate left, 2 of which have marshmallows in them. Jeff picks a packet that does not have marshmallows. What are the odds of Charlie randomly choosing a packet with marshmallows after Jeff's pick?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Initially we have 5 packets of how chocolate, 2 of which have marshmallows. We can diagram this, with C representing regular hot chocolate and M representing hot chocolate with marshmallows:

C C C M M

Jeff picks a packet without marshmallows, leaving:

C C M M

If Charlie picks at random, there are 4 packets left and two of them have marshmallows. His chance of getting marshmallows is:

We can reduce the fraction to find our final answer.

Example Question #43 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

If Mary flips a coin twice and it lands on the tails side the first time, what is the chance that it will land on the heads side the second time?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Whether a coin lands on heads or tails the first time it is flipped does not affect how it will land in a future flip. Each flip is an independent event.

When a coin is flipped, there is a 50% chance it will be heads and a 50% chance that it will be tails. Since the first flip has no effect on these odds, the chance Mary's second coin flip will be heads is still equal to 50%.

Example Question #44 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

If 25% of the oranges at a grocery store are underripe, then based on these odds, how many oranges should be underripe if Betty selects 8 oranges?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Given that 25% of the oranges at a grocery store are underripe, and that 25% of 8 is 2, the odds indicate that 2 oranges should be underripe. Therefore, 2 is the correct answer. 

Example Question #48 : Data Analysis And Probability

If there are five shirts and five ties in a store and one of each has a rip in it, then what is the probability that a man who buys one shirt and one tie will buy both the ripped shirt and the ripped tie?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If there are 5 shirts in a store and 1 has a rip in it, there is a  chance of buying the shirt with the rip. 

If there are 5 ties, one of which also has a rip, then the probability of buying the tie with a rip is also 

Therefore, the probability of buying both ripped articles of clothing is .

Example Question #45 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

In a bag of  marbles, there are  black marbles,  blue marbles,  green marbles, and  yellow marbles. If Bess randomly picks a marble from the bag, which color does she have a  chance of selecting?

Possible Answers:

Yellow

Blue

Black

Green

Correct answer:

Black

Explanation:

Given that , the correct answer is "black" because there are  black marbles.

Example Question #46 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

If Bob rolls a pair of dice, what is the probability that the sum will be a prime number? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If Bob rolls a pair of dice, the potential numbers that he could roll are below:

Thus, there are 11 possible numbers that he could roll, of which 5 are prime:.

Therefore, the probability of rolling a prime number is .

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