Anna mixes the letters S, E, L, E, C, T, E, and D thoroughly. Without looking, Mary draws one letter. Expressed as a fraction, decimal, and percentage, what is the probability that E will not be the letter Mary selects?
To count the number of outcomes in which E is not selected, we need to count the number of ways to select one letter from the remaining six letters, S, L, C, T, E, and D. There are six options for the first letter, so there are 6 ways to do this. Therefore, the probability that E is not selected is:
6/7 = 0.857 = 85.7%
Answer: $\frac{6}{7}$, 0.857, 85.7%
To find the probability that E will not be the letter Mary selects, we need to determine the total number of possible outcomes and the number of favorable outcomes.
Total number of outcomes:
Since there are 8 letters in total, the number of possible outcomes is 8.
Number of favorable outcomes:
To calculate the number of favorable outcomes, we need to determine the number of letters that are not E. Among the 8 letters, there are 7 letters that are not E. Therefore, the number of favorable outcomes is 7.
Probability of not selecting the letter E:
The probability is the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the total number of outcomes.
Probability = Number of favorable outcomes / Total number of outcomes
Probability = 7 / 8
Expressed as a fraction:
Probability = 7/8
Expressed as a decimal:
Probability = 7/8 ≈ 0.875
Expressed as a percentage:
Probability = 7/8 ≈ 0.875 = 87.5%