Kim wants to estimate the probability that her friend Tony will answer the phone when she rings the house.
Here are two ways she could do it.
A. There are four people in the house, so there is a probability of 1 out of 4 it will be Tony.
B. The last time Kim rang, Tony answered , so it won't be Tony this time.
Kim says A is not a good way to estimate the probability.
Explain why not.
We are slightly confused by this question can anyone help?
2007-03-02 22:24:32 · 14 answers · asked by Random Darkness 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
B is not a good way. Each time the phone rings, the odds of who is going to answer it refresh.
B would be like saying that the odds of a coin being heads or tails would depend on the last flip. It does not.
2007-03-02 22:30:00 · answer #1 · answered by joey k 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Each time the phone rings, provided all 4 are in the house, the probability remains at 1 in 4.
Because Tony answers it on the first ring does not mean he cannot answer it again!
2007-03-06 14:49:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'd say that B is a better way to calculate the probability considering we have to consider human instinct. you'd normally say, "i just took the phone. could you help me get it?". But i cant say why A is bad. Maybe you have to see in which part of the house the individuals are, whose house it is (considering the home owner would normally pick up the phone). Or maybe the question was printed wrongly. If the qn can correct and there were no printing errors, could you post the ans here? i'm sure many peoplr would be interested in the ans.
2007-03-03 06:55:01 · answer #3 · answered by trashtalker 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A is a good way to estimate probability the chances that 25% of the time tony is gonna answer the fone plus its whoevers nearer the fone will answer the fone which doesnt mean crap in my household someone can be near the fone but it will still be the person who is furthest away that will answer the fone.
2007-03-03 06:38:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A is and okay answer if you are asuming everyone will be home. you have to take into consideration that tony may not be there or any one else for that matter. but, it would be a one out of four chane, i answer the phone twice in a row all the time
2007-03-03 08:06:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A is not a good way to estimate probability because some people may be at home more than others.
2007-03-03 11:30:28 · answer #6 · answered by loopyloui 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the reason why A might not be accurate is because the others in the house might not be able to answer the phone eg. too old/ too young - or - they might go out??
i don't know just a guess!!
but i researched the question and it originally said that kim thought that B wasn't a good method so maybe they wrote the question wrong?
2007-03-03 06:37:26 · answer #7 · answered by ♥ DoodleDee 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let's say Jane owns the phone,then if the phone rings she is more likely to answer it than the others .Lets say she is twice as likely as the rest then the probabilities will be ;
Jane..2/5 the rest..1/5.
2007-03-03 15:15:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is the same chance Tony will answer the second time as there was the first.
2007-03-03 06:30:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i suppose because the other 3 people might be doing other things i.e tiolet ,bath,didnt hear the phone or cant be bothered to answer it?thats what i would go with,init daft really how the hell does this help the youngsters of today get on in the world really and besides what if he had an answering machine??
2007-03-03 06:31:53 · answer #10 · answered by lainaloo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋