in his left pocket ralph has 4 quarters and 5 nickels. in his right pocket he has 3 quarters 2 nickels and 1 penny. if he wants to select a quarter at random, which pocket should he choose?
left pocket because it has more quarters
Yes left pocket because it has 1 more quarter than the right.
To solve this problem, we need to determine the probability of selecting a quarter from each pocket.
First, let's calculate the probability of selecting a quarter from Ralph's left pocket.
In his left pocket, Ralph has a total of 4 quarters and 5 nickels. The probability of selecting a quarter from this pocket can be calculated by dividing the number of quarters by the total number of coins in the pocket:
Probability of selecting a quarter from the left pocket = Number of quarters / Total number of coins in the left pocket
Probability of selecting a quarter from the left pocket = 4 / (4 + 5) = 4/9 ≈ 0.4444
Therefore, the probability of selecting a quarter from Ralph's left pocket is approximately 0.4444.
Now let's calculate the probability of selecting a quarter from Ralph's right pocket.
In his right pocket, Ralph has a total of 3 quarters, 2 nickels, and 1 penny. The probability of selecting a quarter from this pocket can be calculated by dividing the number of quarters by the total number of coins in the pocket:
Probability of selecting a quarter from the right pocket = Number of quarters / Total number of coins in the right pocket
Probability of selecting a quarter from the right pocket = 3 / (3 + 2 + 1) = 3/6 = 0.5
Therefore, the probability of selecting a quarter from Ralph's right pocket is 0.5.
Comparing the probabilities, we can see that the probability of selecting a quarter from Ralph's right pocket (0.5) is higher than the probability of selecting a quarter from his left pocket (approximately 0.4444).
Therefore, Ralph should choose his right pocket if he wants to randomly select a quarter.