SOLUTION: This is a question I need total help with Consider the following multiple-choice question: A friend hides 12 yellow eggs and 16 purple eggs for you to find in an egg hunt. Wh

Algebra ->  Probability-and-statistics -> SOLUTION: This is a question I need total help with Consider the following multiple-choice question: A friend hides 12 yellow eggs and 16 purple eggs for you to find in an egg hunt. Wh      Log On


   

Question 117455: This is a question I need total help with

Consider the following multiple-choice question:
A friend hides 12 yellow eggs and 16 purple eggs for you to find in an egg hunt. What is P(yellow) for the first egg you find?

A. 1/4
B. 1/3
C. 3/8
D. 3/7
Explain why you can eliminate choices B and C.
What is the correct answer to the question?
Answer by bucky(2189) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The answer to this problem is found by first determining how many eggs are hidden. The number
of eggs that are hidden is the total of 12 and 16 which is a total of 28 eggs. Then you have
12 chances of finding a yellow egg as your first egg because there are 12 yellow eggs that are
hidden. So the probability of finding a yellow egg first is the ratio of the number of
yellow eggs to the total number of eggs. In fractional form this is:
.
12%2F28
.
and since 4 is a factor of both the numerator and the denominator of this fraction you can reduce
the fraction by dividing the numerator and denominator by 4 to get:
.
3%2F7
.
So D is the correct answer.
.
You can immediately eliminate answers B and C because the correct answer must have 28
as the original denominator. Therefore, the denominator of the correct answer must be
a factor of 28 which are 28, 14, 7, 4, 2 and 1. Therefore, the correct answer must have
one of these numbers as its denominator. Answers A and D do, but answers B and C do not.
Therefore, they can be eliminated.
.
Hope this helps you to understand the problem a little better.
.