SAT Math : Data Analysis

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #103 : Probability

Balls are placed in a box, each marked with a letter. One ball is marked with an "A"; two balls are marked with a "B"; three are marked with a "C", and so forth up to twenty-six with a "Z". 

A ball is drawn at random. Give the probability that the selected ball will be marked with an "M".

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The number of balls placed in the box will be 

The sum of the first  natural numbers is 

so there are

,

balls in the box.

"M" is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, so thirteen balls are marked with an "M". The probability of drawing this letter is

Example Question #107 : Probability

Spinner

In the above spinner, the larger sectors have radius twice that of the smaller sectors.

If the above spinner is spun, what are the odds against it stopping while pointing to a red sector?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The probability that the spinner will stop in a red sector depends on the angles of the different colored sectors, not on the sizes of the sectors. The radii of the sectots is therefore irrelevant.

Each red region is half of a quarter-circle, so the two sectors are, together, one fourth of a circle. The odds against the spinner stopping in a red circle are therefore three fourths to one fourth, or 3 to 1, against.

Example Question #108 : Probability

The ace of spades and the ace of clubs are taken out of a standard 52-card deck. They are replaced by the king of spades and the king of clubs from another deck. 

Let  be the probabilities that a randomly drawn card is a club, diamond, heart, and spade, respectively. What happened to each probability when the switch was made?

Possible Answers:

 and  increased;  and  remained the same.

All four probabilities remained the same.

 and  remained the same;  and  increased.

 and  decreased;  and  remained the same.

 and  remained the same;  and  decreased.

Correct answer:

All four probabilities remained the same.

Explanation:

An unaltered standard deck of 52 cards contains 13 of each of the four suits. Switching a spade and a club from this deck with a spade and a club from another deck yields an altered deck, but with the same number of cards, and with the same number of cards of each suit. No probabilities changed.

Example Question #81 : Probability

Aaron, Gary, Craig, and Boone are sitting down in a row of four chairs. What is the probability that Aaron and Gary will be seated beside each other?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Consider first all of the possible ways the men may be arranged, which is

Now, consider all of the ways that Aaron and Gary could be seated beside each other; it may be easier to visualize by drawing it out:

  1. A G _ _
  2. G A _ _
  3. _ A G _
  4. _ G A _
  5. _ _ A G
  6. _ _ G A

As seen, there are six possibilities.

Finally, for each of these cases, Craige and Boone could be seated in one of two ways.

So the probability that Aaron and Gary will be seated beside each other is:

Example Question #111 : Probability

Joaquin flips a coin t times.  It lands heads-up h times.  Which of the following represents the probability of the coin landing tails-up?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

A coin only has two outcomes, heads or tails.  So if the coin is flipped "t" times, "h" of those times are heads and "t-h" of those times are tails.

From here, we use the simple probability formula:

sowe simply create a fraction that has the number of tails-up divied by the total number of flips;

Example Question #3191 : Sat Mathematics

In Sarah's closet, there are 12 skirts. If she chooses one skirt at random, there is a 25% probability that the skirt is blue. How many blue skirts does Sarah have in her closet? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The probability of any given event is given by the equation 

P= [(number of desired events) / (total possible events)] x 100%

In this example, let x represent the number of blue skirts. 

If there's a 25% probability that the skirt Sarah chooses is blue, then the probability of the event can be written like this:

P = (x/12)(100%) = 25%

To solve for x, we can set up a proportion like this:

By cross-multiplication, we get

Therefore, x=3. 

Example Question #111 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

Jennifer, James, and Kensington are flipping a coin and recording the outcomes for a math project about probability. What is the probability that the coin lands on tails, tails, tails, heads? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In order to find the probability of the outcomes that Jennifer, James and Kensington flip, you need to multiply the probability of each outcome by each other. 

Example Question #111 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

There are seven scarves in a box. Three scarves are blue, two are red, and two are purple. Amelia picks one scarf out of the box to wear to school. What is the probability that the scarf she chooses at random is blue? 

Possible Answers:

None of the given answers. 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The probability of the outcome of an event is given by the number of desired outcomes divided by the total number of possible outcomes. 

For this example, since there are three blue scarves, there are three desired outcomes. In total, there are seven possible outcomes—one for each scarf Amelia could pick. 

Therefore, the probability that she will pick a blue scarf is 

Example Question #272 : Data Analysis

Screen shot 2015 11 17 at 4.37.09 pm

On the spinner shown in the figure above, what is the probability of spinning an A, B, or C? 

Possible Answers:

None of the given answers. 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The probability of spinning an A is . The probability of spinning an B is also , and the same goes for spinning a C.

To find the probability of spinning an A, B, or C, we simply add these individual probabilities together. 

 

Example Question #112 : How To Find The Probability Of An Outcome

Robert pulls the queen of hearts out of a deck of standard playing cards. He does not replace the card. Next, Rebecca pulls out a card of her own from the same deck. What is the probability that Rebecca's card is also a queen? 

Possible Answers:

None of the given answers. 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Remember that we can find the probability of an event by dividing the number of possible desired outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes. 

Since Robert has already pulled out the queen of hearts, that means that there are 51 cards remaining in the deck. That also means that there are only 3 queens left. 

With this in mind, Rebecca pulls out a card from a deck of 51 total cards (the total number of possible outcomes), 3 of which are queens (the desired number of outcomes).

Therefore, the probability of her pulling out a queen is 

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