Billy inserted a tape into his video cassette recorder, then he hit one then another of the five buttons on the VCR (at random). The five buttons are Rewind, Stop, Play, Pause, FastForward. What is the probability that the Play button was pressed second? Give you answer as a reduced fraction.
2007-10-11 15:09:36 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
I think I'll be a contrarian and assume that (1) if he hits the play button first, he will not hit any more buttons and (2) if he can hit another button twice in a row.
Therefore probability of him not hitting the play button first is
4/5
Probability of him then hitting the play button second is 1/5
therefore the probability is 4/25
Note, if you do not assume that Billy would stop hitting the play button after the VCR starts, then the probability of hitting it second is 1/5
2007-10-11 16:58:35 · answer #1 · answered by Frst Grade Rocks! Ω 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1/5 right?
2007-10-11 22:25:40 · answer #2 · answered by Wh0s_ThE_bOmB 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
4/5*1/4
4/20
2/10
1/5
2007-10-11 22:12:22 · answer #3 · answered by tyder21 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
one out of five. or, one fifth.
2007-10-11 22:13:47 · answer #4 · answered by CurlsandPoetry 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋