Question

The names Phil, Angelica, Yolanda, Mimi, and Ed are on slips of paper in a hat. A name is drawn without looking. What is the probability of not drawing Ed?

Answer 1

`4/5`

Explanation:

There are 5 names, and so the probability of drawing Ed is `1/5`.

Since the sum of all the probabilities is 1, we can find the probability of not drawing Ed as

`1-1/5=4/5`

We can also find it by summing the probabilities of drawing all the other names. For instance, the probability of drawing Phil is `1/5`, as is the probability of drawing Angelica, as it is for the others:

`1/5+1/5+1/5+1/5=4/5`