Choosing the Letter S: P=2/9 Choosing a Letter Other Than P: P=7/9
Practice makes perfect
When calculating probability, we are comparing the number of favorable outcomes to the number of possible outcomes. We want to find two different probabilities. Let's do it one at a time.
Choosing the Letter S
We are choosing a tile at random from a bag that contains 9 tiles, one for each letter in the word HAPPINESS. We want to find the probability that we choose a tile with the letter S. To find this probability, we will use the formula for finding the theoretical probability.
P=Favorable Outcomes/Possible Outcomes
The word HAPPINESS has 9 letters. Therefore, the bag contains 9 tiles and this is the number of possible outcomes. Out of these, 2 tiles has on them the letter S. Now we have enough information to calculate choosing a tile with the letter S.
P=2/9
Choosing a Letter Other Than P
This time we want to choose a tile with a letter other than P. The number of possible outcomes is the same because we are choosing a tile from the same bag. Let's list the letters that are favorable outcomes.
H A I N E S S
This time the number of favorable outcomes is 7. Therefore, the probability for the desired outcome can be found as follows.
P=7/9
