A student wants to know how far above the ground the top of a leaning flagpole is. At high noon, when the sun is almost directl
y overhead, the shadow cast by the pole is 6 ft long. The student holds a plumb bob with a string 2 ft long up to the flagpole and determines that the point of the plumb bob touches the ground 11 in. from the base of the flagpole. How far above the ground is the top of the pole?
The probability of each individual match being flawed is p = 0.008. The probability that a matchbox will have one or fewer matches with a flaw is the same as the probability of a matchbox having exactly one or exactly zero matches with a flaw:
The probability that a matchbox will have one or fewer matches with a flaw is 0.9855 or 98.55%.