Math Word Problems Demystified - A Self Teaching Guide

EXAMPLE:Using the same bag of candy, find the probability that a person

selects a caramel or a chocolate.

SOLUTION:

GOAL: You are being asked to find the probability that the piece of candy

is a caramel or a chocolate.

STRATEGY: There are 25 pieces of candy and there are 10 caramels and 4

chocolates.

IMPLEMENTATION:P(caramel or chocolate)¼

10 þ 4

25

¼

14

25

.

EVALUATION: You can verify the answer by looking at the sample space.

EXAMPLE:In a classroom, there are 18 freshmen and 10 sophomores. If a

student is selected at random to read a passage, find the probability that the

student is a sophomore.

SOLUTION:

GOAL: You are being asked to find the probability that the student is a

sophomore.

STRATEGY: There are a total of 28 students in the class and 10 are

sophomores.

IMPLEMENTATION:P(sophomore)¼

10

28

¼

5

14

.

EVALUATION: The answer can be verified by looking at the distribution.

Try These

l. A single die is rolled once; find the probability of getting

(a) a five

(b) a number greater than four

(c) a number less than six

(d) a number greater than six

272 LESSON 22 Word Problems in Probability