Ben is greeting customers at a music store. Of the first 20 people he sees enter the store, 13 are wearing jackets and 7 are not. What is the experimental probability that the next person to enter the store will be wearing a jacket?

Question

Ben is greeting customers at a music store. Of the first 20 people he sees enter the store, 13 are wearing jackets and 7 are not. What is the experimental probability that the next person to enter the store will be wearing a jacket?

13-wearing jackets
7-not wearing jackets

13/20 & 7/20

I am confused though on what the experimental probability would be that the next person to enter the store will be wearing a jacket can you please explain?

Answer 1

13/20 is what you measured during the experiment.

Answer 2

there is actual probability, which is difficult to know. But we can observe prior acts (experiment), and get a good estimate of the actual probabiliy by calculating the "experimental" probability we observed. You have to be careful in real life, however, take this example: did it get warmer or cooler during the day? That changes the experiment, so sometimes experimental probabilities are poor estimates of actual.

Answer 3

Hello Mr. Pursley. I understand your explanation on experimental probability however I am somewhat confused on my answer:

Is it 13/20 or 14/20?

Answer 4

To find the experimental probability, we need to look at the data we have gathered. In this case, out of the first 20 people Ben saw entering the store, 13 were wearing jackets and 7 were not.

The experimental probability of the next person entering the store wearing a jacket is calculated by taking the number of successful outcomes (people wearing jackets) and dividing it by the total number of outcomes (total number of people observed).

In this case, the number of successful outcomes is 13 (people wearing jackets) and the total number of outcomes is 20 (the number of people observed). So the experimental probability is:

13 a successful outcomes (people wearing jackets)
--------------
20 total outcomes (people observed)

Therefore, the experimental probability that the next person to enter the store will be wearing a jacket is 13/20.

To calculate the probability of the next person wearing a jacket, you can also express it as a decimal or percentage:

Decimal form: 13/20 = 0.65
Percentage form: 0.65 x 100% = 65%

So, there is approximately a 65% chance that the next person entering the store will be wearing a jacket, based on the data collected so far.