the letters elementary are placed in a bag. one letter is randomly selected from the bag. what is the probability the letter selected is a consonant?

The word "elementary" has 4 vowels and 6 consonants

so prob(consonant) = 6/10 = 3/5

(I counted y as a consonant, perhaps an English teacher could confirm if this is correct)

Yes, in that word, "y" is serving as a vowel. Each syllable needs a vowel, so ...

el - e - men - ta - ry

Five vowel instances, right?

5/10=3/5

To find the probability of selecting a consonant from the bag, we first need to determine the total number of letters in the bag, and then calculate the number of consonants.

Step 1: Determine the total number of letters in the bag.
Since we are given that the word "elementary" is placed in the bag, we count the total number of letters in the word: 10.

Step 2: Calculate the number of consonants in the bag.
The consonants in the word "elementary" are: l, m, n, t, r, and y. Counting all the consonants, we find that there are 6 consonants in total.

Step 3: Calculate the probability.
To calculate the probability, we use the formula:
Probability = Number of favorable outcomes / Total number of possible outcomes.

In this case, the favorable outcomes are selecting a consonant (6 consonants), and the total possible outcomes are selecting any letter from the bag (10 letters).

Probability of selecting a consonant = Number of consonants / Total number of letters
= 6 / 10
= 3 / 5
= 0.6

Therefore, the probability of selecting a consonant from the bag is 0.6, which is equivalent to 3/5 or 60%.