Start by finding the areas of each of the figures and of the grid as a whole.
B
b
Compare the areas of the figures.
A
a
The fly is more likely to land on the blank grid. See solution.
B
b
No, see solution.
Practice makes perfect
a
We need to find the area of the blank grid and the area of each figure. We can use these values as a set to calculate the probability of where the fly will land.
We see that the grid is 6 units tall and 20 units wide, so it has an area of 120 square units.
A= 20 * 6=120
Next, we can determine the bases and the heights of the figures using the small squares.
Let's find the combined area of the figures.
12 + 12 + 12 = 36
The combined area of the figures is 36 square units. We can find the area of the blank grid by subtracting the combined area of the figures from the total area of grid.
120-(12+12+12)= 84
The blank grid has an area of 84 square units, greater than the sum of the areas of the figures. Therefore, the fly is more likely to land on the blank grid.
b
In Part A, we showed that each of the figures have the same area.
lA_P =12 A_R=12 A_T=12
Given that the fly lands on one of the figures, the fly is equally likely to land on each figure since the figures all have the same area.
