In a class of 20 students, twelve take mathematics and genetics, while eight take genetics only. What is the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics?
The probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics is 0.6 (12/20).
Oh, probability, how funny you can be! Let's do some math humor, shall we?
Well, we know that twelve students take both maths and genetics, eight take genetics only, and we have a total of 20 students. If we subtract those numbers, we can find out how many students take only mathematics.
So, let's take a leap of logic and subtract 12 and 8 from 20... Oh, the suspense! The answer is... (drumroll, please) zero!
Yes, you heard it right. According to the given information, there are no students who take only mathematics! It seems like genetics has quite the popularity. Poor math, feeling left out!
To find the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics, we need to calculate the number of students who take only mathematics and divide it by the total number of students.
Given that twelve students take both mathematics and genetics, and eight students take genetics only, we can calculate the number of students who take only mathematics as follows:
Number of students taking only mathematics = Total number of students taking mathematics - Number of students taking both mathematics and genetics
Number of students taking only mathematics = 12 - 8 = 4
So, there are four students who take only mathematics.
Now, we can calculate the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics:
Probability = Number of students taking only mathematics / Total number of students
Probability = 4 / 20 = 0.2
Therefore, the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics is 0.2 or 20%.
To find the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics, we need to divide the number of students who take only mathematics by the total number of students in the class.
In this problem, we are given that:
- Twelve students take both mathematics and genetics.
- Eight students take genetics only.
To find the number of students who take only mathematics, we can subtract the number of students who take mathematics and genetics from the total number of students.
The total number of students is 20, and
Twelve students take both mathematics and genetics.
Therefore, the number of students who take only mathematics is:
Total number of students - Number of students who take both mathematics and genetics
= 20 - 12
= 8
So, there are 8 students who take only mathematics.
Now, we can calculate the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics:
Probability = Number of students who take only mathematics / Total number of students
= 8 / 20
= 0.4
Therefore, the probability of selecting a student who takes only mathematics in this class is 0.4 or 40%.