Question
In a certain Algebra 2 class of 20 students, 14 of them play basketball and 5 of them play
baseball. There are 4 students who play neither sport. What is the probability that a student
chosen randomly from the class plays both basketball and baseball?
Answer
baseball. There are 4 students who play neither sport. What is the probability that a student
chosen randomly from the class plays both basketball and baseball?
Answer
Ask by Turnbull Howell. in the United States
Mar 28,2025
Upstudy AI Solution
Tutor-Verified Answer
Answer
The probability that a randomly chosen student plays both basketball and baseball is
.
Solution
We start with the total number of students in the class, which is
. Let the number of students who play both basketball and baseball be
.
The number of students who play basketball is
and the number who play baseball is
. Using the principle of inclusion-exclusion, the number of students who play at least one sport is:
We are also given that
students play neither sport. Therefore, the number of students who play at least one sport plus those who play neither must equal
:
Now, solve for
:
The probability that a randomly chosen student plays both sports is:
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The Deep Dive
To solve this, let’s first analyze the information provided. We have 20 students in total, and 4 students play neither sport. This means that 20 - 4 = 16 students play at least one sport.
There are 14 basketball players and 5 baseball players. Since we want to find the number of students who play both sports, we can use the principle of inclusion-exclusion.
Let B represent basketball players and A represent baseball players. The formula for the union of two sets is:
|B ∪ A| = |B| + |A| - |B ∩ A|
We know:
|B ∪ A| = 16 (students playing at least one sport)
|B| = 14 (basketball players)
|A| = 5 (baseball players)
|B ∪ A| = 16 (students playing at least one sport)
|B| = 14 (basketball players)
|A| = 5 (baseball players)
Plugging the values into the equation:
16 = 14 + 5 - |B ∩ A|
Now we solve for |B ∩ A| (students who play both sports):
16 = 19 - |B ∩ A|
|B ∩ A| = 19 - 16
|B ∩ A| = 3
|B ∩ A| = 19 - 16
|B ∩ A| = 3
So, there are 3 students who play both basketball and baseball.
To find the probability that a randomly chosen student plays both sports, we can use the formula:
Probability = (Number of favorable outcomes) / (Total outcomes)
The number of favorable outcomes is 3 (students playing both sports), and the total outcomes are 20 (total students in the class).
Probability = 3 / 20
Therefore, the probability that a student chosen randomly from the class plays both basketball and baseball is
or 0.15 (15%).