Question

Consider a political discussion group consisting of 7 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 5 Independents. Suppose that two group members are randomly selected, in succession, to attend a political convention. Find the probability of selecting two Independents

Answer 1

1/16

Explanation:

The probability of selecting an Independent on the first draw is 5/16, since there are 5 Independents out of 16 total members.

Assuming that the first person selected is an Independent, there are now 4 Independents left out of 15 total members for the second draw. So the probability of selecting a second Independent given that the first person selected was an Independent is 4/15.

Therefore, the probability of selecting two Independents in succession is:

(5/16) * (4/15) = 1/16

So the probability of selecting two Independents is 1/16 or approximately 0.0625.