Thread: Probability word problem

Example 1: Four friends cleaning out their math folders were too lazy to get up and throw the papers in the trash. Instead, they sat at their desks and took shots at the wastebasket. Together they took a total of 188 shots. Only 89 of the shots actually made it in the wastebasket, and of those that went in 32 of them hit the rim before going in. Sixty-four shots missed the rim and did not go in the wastebasket.


a.) How many shots hit the rim but did not go in the wastebasket?


b.) What is the probability a shot hit the rim but did not go in the wastebasket?
P(shot hit the rim and did not go in) =


c.) What is the probability a shot went in the basket?


d.) What is the probability a shot went in if the shot hit the rim?
P(shot made/hit rim) =

Hey asilvester635.

What I will ask you to do is to setup a preliminary equation of what you think the probability is (Hint: It will be a conditional probability). You have probability spaces corresponding to hitting the rim, going in the waste-basket, and missing altogether with various unions and intersections.

Can you find a way to get a probability from the appropriate intersections (and possibly unions) of these events?