On Wednesday afternoons, eight men play tennis on two courts. They know ahead of time which four will play on the north court and which four will play on the south court. The players arrive randomly at the tennis courts. What is the probability that the first four players that arrive are all assigned to (a)the north court, and (b)the same court

Answer :

Answer:

(A)

Step-by-step explanation:

Using the binomial distribution, it is found that there is a:

a) 0.0625 = 6.25% probability that the first four players that arrive are all assigned to the north court.

b) 12.50% probability that the first four players that arrive are all assigned to the same court.

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For each men, there are only two possible outcomes. Either they play on the north court, or they do not. The probability of a men playing on a court is independent of any other other men, which means that the binomial distribution is used to solve this question.

Binomial probability distribution  

[tex]P(X = x) = C_{n,x}.p^{x}.(1-p)^{n-x}[/tex]  

[tex]C_{n,x} = \frac{n!}{x!(n-x)!}[/tex]

The parameters are:

  • x is the number of successes.
  • n is the number of trials.
  • p is the probability of a success on a single trial.

In this problem:

  • 4 players, thus [tex]n = 4[/tex]
  • Equally as likely to choose any court, thus [tex]p = 0.5[/tex].

Item a:

The probability that all are assigned to the north court is P(X = 4), thus:

[tex]P(X = x) = C_{n,x}.p^{x}.(1-p)^{n-x}[/tex]

[tex]P(X = 4) = C_{4,4}.(0.5)^{4}.(0.5)^{0} = 0.0625[/tex]

0.0625 = 6.25% probability that the first four players that arrive are all assigned to the north court.

Item b:

  • Binomial distribution with [tex]p = 0.5[/tex], thus all four to the south court is the same probability of 0.0625.
  • Then, 2 x 0.0625 = 0.1250 = 12.50% probability that the first four players that arrive are all assigned to the same court.

A similar problem is given at https://brainly.com/question/24881950

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