Probability problem

susumandrai

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
Messages
68
Sarah wanted to find out whether girls are more likely to have a mobile phone than boys. She asked everyone in her class if they owned a mobile phone and calculated the proportions.

Boys
Girls
Total
Owns a cell phone
0.4
0.43
0.83
Does not own a cell phone
0.13
0.03
0.16
Total
0.53
0.46
1


  1. If a girl is chosen from the class, what is the probability she does not own a phone?
  2. Answer Sarah’s question: ‘Are girls more likely to have mobile phones than boys?’
Explain your answer.

Please tell me if these answers are right:
Answers:
1. 0.03/0.46 = 0.0652

2.
boys: 0.4/0.53 = 0.7547
boys: 0.43/0.46 = 0.9348
so girls are more likely to have mobile phones than boys.
 
0) 0.99 is not quite 1.00.
1) Yes
2) Certainly not. There is some evidence to suggest that it MAY be the case, but there is much yet to consider.

2a) Is the class big enough?
2b) Is the class truly representative of the entire population?

Of course, if you're just calculating probabilities and not caring whether it makes much sense (which might be the case in a beginning class), then Yes.
 
Did the 100th kid die due to rounding error? -_-
 
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