SOLUTION: Leo’s pencil case contains 8 black pens, 6 blue pens and 2 red pens. He loses 4 pens, 2 of which are blue. If he then picks one pen out of the pencil case at random, what is the

Question 1141573: Leo’s pencil case contains 8 black pens, 6 blue pens and 2 red pens. He loses 4 pens, 2 of which are blue. If he then picks one pen out of the pencil case at random, what is the probability that it will be blue?
A) 1/3
B)1/4
C)1/6
D)1/8
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Answer: choice A) 1/3

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Explanation:

The information that "Leo’s pencil case contains 8 black pens, 6 blue pens and 2 red pens" means we have 8+6+2 = 14+2 = 16 pens total

Furthermore, we are told "He loses 4 pens, 2 of which are blue" so the total drops from 16 to 16-4 = 12 pens overall. The number of blue pens goes from 6 to 6-2 = 4.

After Leo loses those pens, he has 4 blue pens out of 12 total. Form a fraction with these values and reduce
4/12 = 1/3

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note: the greatest common factor (GCF) of 4 and 12 is 4. So you divide each value by 4
4/4 = 1
12/4 = 3
So that's how 4/12 reduces to 1/3
This is one way to show the reduction

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