Carcass wrote:
There are 3 black balls and 7 white balls in a box. If two balls are chosen randomly, what is the probability that at least one will be black?
(A) 1/15
(B) 7/30
(C) 7/15
(D) 8/15
(E) 23/30
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 1 ball is black) = 1 -
P(not getting at least 1 black ball)What does it mean to
not get at least 1 black ball? It means getting zero black balls.
So, we can write:
P(getting at least 1 black ball) = 1 - P(getting zero black balls)P(getting zero black balls)P(getting zero black balls) = P(1st ball is white
AND 2nd ball is white)
= P(1st ball is white)
x P(2nd ball is white)
= 7/10
x 6/9
= 42/90
=
7/15So,
P(getting at least 1 black ball) = 1 - 7/15=15/15 - 7/15
= 8/15
Answer: D