A farmer conducted an inventory on his two square kilometers of rainforest; the results are in the table. He plans on randomly selecting a seeding to experiment on when he goes back to the forest. What is the probability that he will randomly pick type B plant?
The table:
Plant types A number of seedlings 100
Plant type B number of seedlings 140
Plant type C number of seedlings 80
Plant type D number of seedlings 60
Plant type E number of seedlings 40
First, we need to calculate the total number of seedlings in the forest:
Total number of seedlings = 100 + 140 + 80 + 60 + 40 = 420
Next, we calculate the probability of randomly selecting a type B plant:
Probability = Number of type B seedlings / Total number of seedlings
Probability = 140 / 420
Probability = 1/3
Probability = 0.3333
Therefore, the probability that the farmer will randomly pick a type B plant is 0.3333 or approximately 33.33%.