Probability of Meteorite Hitting Land: ≈ 0.292 or ≈ 29.2 % Probability of Meteorite Hitting Water: ≈ 0.708 or ≈ 70.8 %
Practice makes perfect
We are interested in finding probabilities that a meteorite that reaches the surface of Earth will hit land or water. The probability that involves a geometric measure such as length or area is called geometric probability. We will use it to solve this exercise.
Probability of Meteorite Hitting Land
We are told the surface area of Earth is about 196.9 million square miles while the land area is about 57.5 million square miles. The probability that the meteorite will hit land is given by the ratio of the area of land to the area of Earth.
P(Land)=Area of Land/Area of Earth
We can substitute the given values and find the desired probability.
The probability that a meteorite that reaches the surface of Earth will hit land is about 0.292 or 29.2 %.
Probability of Meteorite Hitting Water
Now we want to find the probability that the meteorite will hit water. Therefore, we need to find the ratio of the area of water to the area of Earth.
P(Land)=Area of Water/Area of Earth
We can find the area of the water by subtracting the area of the land from the whole surface area of Earth.
196.9 - 57.5 = 139.4
We are ready to find the desired probability.
