SOLUTION: describe what is wrong with following statement: there are 50 states, so the probability of selecting an American who lives in north Dakota is 1/50.

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Question 181536: describe what is wrong with following statement:
there are 50 states, so the probability of selecting an American who lives in north Dakota is 1/50.
Found 2 solutions by Mathtut, vleith:
Answer by Mathtut(3670) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
because the statement is dealing with states and makes no mention of men.
:
now, if they had said, what is the probability of picking an American state then the odds would be 1/50

Answer by vleith(2983) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
If the person were picking state names from a hat, then 1 in 50 is valid.
The population of each state is not the same. In fact, Dakota is sparsely populated when compared to most other states. The 'odds' of a person being from N Dakota relate to N dakota's population with respect to the US population. Not on the number of states