Question

The probability that it is Monday and that a student is absent is 3/100. Because there are five school days in a week the probability that a randomly selected day of the school week is Monday is 1/5. What is the probability that a student is absent given that today is Monday?
Help please, I don't think my teacher will accept the answer "today is not Monday"

Answer 1

I'm thinking that this is a simple fraction multiplication problem, but I tend to skip over things so I might not be right (sorry) 3/500 because 3/100 absent rate would mean that the student is absent 3 days out of 100, so if there is only 1 day out of five that they can be absent (because today is the only day we are talking about) it would give them a less probability of being absent. Sorry if the explanation above doesn't make any sense :P I think its 3/500

Answer 2

I...Since there is 180 days of school in one school year, shouldn't it be 1/180.
d...
k...Then when you add and divide 1/180 and 1/5, you get 3/100

fraction     common denominator    divided across
1/5------>36/180------------------------>180------>  3
1/180--->1/180------------------------->  5-------->100