Question #9ec4b

1 Answer
Aug 6, 2017

#91.3%#

Explanation:

Finding the probability of at least #2# of the #5# people having a dog means that you have to find the probability of #2# people having a dog or #3# people having a dog or #4# people having a dog or all #5# people having a dog. To do this, find each of the individual probabilities and find their sum. (Or implies addition.)

#60%# of people own a dog, so the probability that any one person has a dog is also #60%# or #3/5#. The probability of someone not owning a dog is #1 - 3/5 = 2/5#.

The probability of #2# people out of #5# having a dog is equivalent to the probability of #2# people having a dog and #3# people not having a dog.

#overbrace(3/5 * 3/5) ^ "dog" * overbrace(2/5 * 2/5 * 2/5) ^ "no dog"#

However, we don't know which two people own dogs. It can be the first and second person, first and fifth person, fourth and fifth person, etc. Basically, it can be any set of #2# people out of the #5#. Thus, we have to multiply the combination #color(white)(I)_5C_2# along with everything.

A quick recap on combinations:

#color(white)(I)_5C_2 = ((5), (2)) = (5!)/(2! * (5-2)!) = 10#

You can also plug #color(white)(I)_5C_2# into your calculator, which is what I'll be doing below.

So, the probability of #2# people owning a dog is actually

#(3/5)^2 * (2/5)^3 * color(white)(I)_5C_2 = color(red)0.2304#

We can do the same thing for all the other possibilities.

Probability of #3# people owning a dog:

#(3/5)^3 * (2/5)^2 * color(white)(I)_5C_3 = color(red)0.3456#

Probability of #4# people owning a dog:

#(3/5)^4 * (2/5)^1 * color(white)(I)_5C_4 = color(red)0.2592#

Probability of #5# people owning a dog:

#(3/5)^5 * (2/5)^0 * color(white)(I)_5C_5 = color(red)0.07776#

Now that we have found each of the individual probabilities, we can add them up:

#color(red)0.2304 + color(red)0.3456 + color(red)0.2592 + color(red)0.07776 = 0.91296#

Again, this is the probability that #2# people have a dog or #3# people have a dog or #4# people have a dog or #5# people have a dog, which is the same thing as finding the probability of at least #2# people having a dog.

#0.91296 ~~ color(blue)(91.3%)#