Gerald wants to buy a pair of jeans, polyester pants, or cotton pants for his upcoming camping trip. The cost is similar for eac
h item, and he can't decide which to buy. So, he plans to make a random selection. Which model can Gerald choose to simulate this situation, and what is the probability of picking a pair of jeans using this model? A.
He can use a random number generator with the numbers 1 to 10. The probability is .
B.
He can choose one of three playing cards. The probability is .
C.
He can flip a coin. The probability is 3.
D.
He can flip a bottle cap. The probab
Picking a card at random from a set of three cards is the most accurate way to simulate the situation. Each card could represent a different clothing option, giving a (theoretical) 1/3 probability of selecting any given outcome, including the pair of jeans.
In addition, answer B is the only choice that could simulate a situation with three outcomes. Coins and bottle caps only have two sides and a number generator would need to be limited to a multiple of 3 (3, 6, 9, 12...).
When you are doing probability with multiple things at once you have to multiply the probabilities of each asked number from each object together to get the probability of them both landing on those numbers