SOLUTION: A family has a child, what is the probability that: a. the child is a boy? b. the child is a girl?

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Question 1044559: A family has a child, what is the probability that:
a. the child is a boy?
b. the child is a girl?

Answer by Edwin McCravy(20060)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
I am quite sure your teacher is expecting
you to give 1/2, 0.5, or 50% for both answers.

However, from this website:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-a-pregnant-womans-chan/

Marc Weisskopf, a research associate at the Harvard School
of Public Health, says:

In most industrialized countries about 105 boys are born 
for every 100 girls, for a ratio of 1.05, known as the 
secondary sex ratio, or SSR; the primary sex ratio is the 
ratio at conception. This is often expressed as the 
percentage of boys among all births, or about 51.2 percent. 

So even though your teacher is expecting answers
1/2, 0.5, or 50% for each,

If Weisskopf is right, the answer to (a) should be 

(a)  64/125 or 0.512 or 51.2% 

and the answer to (b) should be

(b)  61/125 or 0.488 or 48.8%   

Edwin

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