A survey of 80 employees was conducted to ask which meals they regularly eat at the office. Twenty employees eat breakfast at the office, 50 eat lunch, and 10 eat both breakfast and lunch. If an employee is randomly selected from this group, what is the probability of randomly selecting an employee who eats breakfast or lunch at the office? Explain how you got your answer. Show your work and use math vocabulary to explain.
To find the probability of randomly selecting an employee who eats breakfast or lunch at the office, we need to calculate the number of employees who eat either breakfast or lunch and then divide by the total number of employees surveyed.
From the survey data:
- 20 employees eat breakfast
- 50 employees eat lunch
- 10 employees eat both breakfast and lunch
To find the number of employees who eat either breakfast or lunch, we need to add the number of employees who eat breakfast and lunch separately, and then subtract the number who eat both because they would be counted twice:
Number of employees who eat breakfast or lunch = (20 + 50) - 10 = 60
Therefore, the probability of randomly selecting an employee who eats breakfast or lunch at the office is:
Probability = Number of employees who eat breakfast or lunch / Total number of employees surveyed
Probability = 60 / 80
Probability = 0.75 or 75%
So, there is a 75% chance of randomly selecting an employee who eats breakfast or lunch at the office.