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document.write( "There are two possible outcomes on each birth, boy (B) or girl (G). So for 4 children, the number of total possible outcomes is
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document.write( "This is small enough to enumerate all of them. After that, you
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document.write( "should be able to easily complete the problems (I'll do the first
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document.write( "part as a template).\r
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document.write( "1 BBBB
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document.write( "2 BBBG
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document.write( "3 BBGB
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document.write( "4 BBGG
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document.write( "5 BGBB
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document.write( "6 BGBG
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document.write( "7 BGGB
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document.write( "8 BGGG
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document.write( "9 GBBB
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document.write( "10 GBBG
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document.write( "11 GBGB
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document.write( "12 GBGG
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document.write( "13 GGBB
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document.write( "14 GGBG
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document.write( "15 GGGB
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document.write( "16 GGGG\r
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document.write( "(1) P(two boys and two girls) = 6/16 = 3/8
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document.write( "To see this, notice the number of outcomes with 2B and 2G is 6 (lines 4,6,7,10,11, and 13). The probability is the count of the outcomes of interest, divided by the total number of possible outcomes.total possible outcomes.\r
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document.write( "As an Algebraic solution, you would use combinations. The probability of 2 boys and 2 girls is equivalent to the probability of 2 boys out of 4 children total:
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document.write( " Using nCr = (n!)/((n-r)!r!) (\"n choose r\")
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document.write( " P(2 boys and 2 girls) = P(2 boys out of 4 children) = 4C2 / 16 = 6/16 = 3/8
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document.write( "The other parts are solved similarly, just adjust how you select the outcomes of interest (or compute the combinations).
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