ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

CAHSEE Math 5.4 Statistics, Data, and Probability I 174 Views


Share It!


Description:

Statistics, Data, and Probability I: Drill Set 5, Problem 4. What is the probability that the pointer creates a new winner?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's a shmoopy question for you...

00:06

The following fair spinner is spun one time.

00:09

According to Norse legend, God spins it every time a new human child is born,

00:14

to determine whether they're going to be a winner... or a loser.

00:18

Aw, and you thought we had free will.

00:21

What is the probability that the pointer creates a new... winner?

00:24

And here are the potential answers...

00:29

OK, that FAIR spinner thing again.

00:31

For these kinds of problems, FAIR just means that what you see is what you get...

00:35

...that is, the drawing is drawn to scale and the spinner isn't a Las Vegas scam to

00:39

cheat widows out of their savings by always landing on LOSE.

00:43

It's an odds or probability question -- but it's kind of a trick question as well.

00:47

Just look at the wheel. The total real estate taken up by "WIN" is ... large.

00:52

Like... "clearly over half" large.

00:54

Now look at the answers. Anything, uh.. stand out?

00:58

Yeah -- it's D.

00:59

No other answer could POSSIBLY work. It's D. We can just click it and move on.

01:04

Go ahead. Don't be shy. There's nothing wrong with using common sense.

01:07

BUT let's assume for a second that we actually want to learn how to solve this problem...

01:12

If we really wanted to get fancy, there's a few big fat clues here,

01:15

the biggest of which is the presence of right angle.

01:19

We know that a right angle is 90 degrees and

01:21

is a quarter of a circle... or 25% of it.

01:25

And that right angle is bisected with this line. That is, it's cut in half.

01:30

So each of these tiny slices is 12.5% of the circle or 45 degrees.

01:35

We have 3 LOSES of 12.5% which total to 37.5%.

01:40

The wins then have to be 100-37.5% or 62.5%.

01:45

We made the calculation but... we really didn't have to.

01:48

In fact, wasting so much time makes us feel like a real loser.

01:53

Wait a minute...

Up Next

CAHSEE Math 5.3 Algebra and Functions
2032 Views

CAHSEE Math: Algebra and Functions Drill 5, Problem 3. Solve the equation.

Related Videos

SAT Math 1.2 Statistics and Probability
1060 Views

SAT Math: Statistics and Probability Drill 1, Problem 2. If the four largest numbers in the set were doubled, what would happen to the median...

SAT Math 1.4 Statistics and Probability
380 Views

SAT Math 1.4 Statistics and Probability. If two standard 6-sided dice are rolled, what is the probability that the sum of the dice will be gre...

SAT Math 1.5 Statistics and Probability
358 Views

SAT Math 1.5 Statistics and Probability. If Silas draws one card, then places it in his pocket and draws another, what is the probability that...

SAT Math 2.5 Statistics and Probability
241 Views

SAT Math 2.5 Statistics and Probability