12.
4 Chance experiments
EXPERIMENTAL PROBABILITY SOLUTIONS
TASK 1 From a frequency table
1 Number of students surveyed = 11 + 17 + 6 + 9 + 7 = 50
2 Probabilities can be expressed as fractions, decimals or percentages.
11
a P(exactly 1 TV) = b P(no TV) = 0 c 9 + 7 = 16
50
All of the students 16 8
= 0.22 P(4 or more TVs) = or
surveyed had at least 50 25
= 22% one TV.
= 0.32
= 32%
3 With 1200 students in the school:
6
a P(exactly 3) =
50
6
× 1200 = 144
50
From the survey information, you would expect about 144 students to have exactly 3 TVs in
their house.
b The information in the survey only helps you predict what is likely. There may actually be
many students in the school with no TV in their house. It just so happened that none of these
students were included in the survey group. That is why the way you select your sample is very
important.
c Since only 50 out of 1200 students were surveyed, it is very unlikely that all the students with
more than 4 TVs were included in the 50. However, it is still possible.
© 2024 Cambridge University Press 1/2 Chapter 12: Probability
12.4 Chance experiments
TASK 2 From a column graph
1 You cannot read the frequencies (heights of the columns) exactly.
These values are careful estimates:
65 + 30 + 20 + 22 + 50 + 38 + 15 = 240
30 1 b 65 + 38 = 103
2 a P(mystery books) = or
240 8
P(either science fiction/fantasy or horror)
= 0.125
103
= 12.5% =
240
= 42.916%
Experimental probabilities only give you
estimates for the true probabilities within
the large population so these numbers could
5
be sensibly rounded to about 43% or .
12
50 5 d ‘any genre other than romance’ is the
c P(romance) = or
240 24 complement of ‘romance’.
= 0.2083 or about 0.21 P(not romance) = 1 – P(romance)
= 20.83% or about 21% 5 19
1– =
24 24
1 – 0.2083 = 0.7916 or about 0.79
1 – 20.83% = 79.16% or about 79%
3 Apply these probabilities to a population of 10 000 people. How many would you expect to prefer:
20 1 32 2
a P(adventure books) = = b P(humour) = (or use )
240 12 240 15
1 32
10 000 × = 833.3 10 000 × = 1333.3
12 240
Rounding this sensibly, you might expect A sensible estimate is about 1330 people or
about 830 people or you might even between 1300 and 1350 people.
estimate your answer to be between 800
and 850 people.
© 2024 Cambridge University Press 2/2 Chapter 12: Probability
