Carcass wrote:
If six coins are flipped simultaneously, the probability of getting at least one heads and at least one tails is closest to
A) 3%
B) 6%
C) 75%
D) 94%
E) 97%
When it comes to probability questions involving "at least," it's best to try using the
complement.
That is, P(Event A happening) = 1 - P(Event A
not happening)
So, here we get: P(getting at least one heads and at least one tails) = 1 - P(
not getting at least one heads and at least one tails)
What does it mean to
not get at least one heads and at least one tails? It means getting EITHER zero heads OR zero tails.
So, we can write: P(getting at least one heads and at least one tails) = 1 - P(getting zero heads
OR zero tails)
= 1 - P(getting ALL tails
OR ALL heads)
P(getting ALL tails OR ALL heads)= (tails on 1st toss
AND tails on 2nd toss
AND tails on 3rd toss
AND tails on 4th toss
AND tails on 5th toss
AND tails on 6th toss
OR heads on 1st toss
AND heads on 2nd toss
AND heads on 3rd toss
AND heads on 4th toss
AND heads on 5th toss
AND heads on 6th toss)
= [1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2]
+ [1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2
x 1/2]
= [1/64]
+ [1/64]
= 2/64
=
1/32So, P(getting at least one heads and at least one tails) = 1 -
1/32= 31/32
≈ 97%
Answer: E
Cheers,
Brent