A science museum has announced that, on a particular day, one of their halls is closed for construction. The museum has 5 halls on the first floor, 3 on the second floor, and 4 on the third floor. How likely is that the closed floor is on the second floor? Give your answer as a fraction in the simplest form.
Thanks for helping understand...
To find the probability that the closed floor is on the second floor, we first need to calculate the total number of halls in the museum.
Total number of halls = 5 (first floor) + 3 (second floor) + 4 (third floor) = 12 halls
Since one hall is closed for construction, there are 11 halls open. Out of these 11 open halls, 3 are on the second floor.
Probability of the closed floor being on the second floor = Number of halls on the second floor / Total number of open halls
= 3 / 11
Therefore, the probability that the closed floor is on the second floor is 3/11.
The answer 3/11 is wrong. Can you think of another way of solving this? Thanks.
Of course! Another way to approach this problem is by using the concept of probability based on the number of halls on each floor.
Since there are 5 halls on the first floor, 3 halls on the second floor, and 4 halls on the third floor, the probability that the closed hall is on the second floor can be calculated as follows:
Probability = Number of halls on the second floor / Total number of halls
Probability = 3 / (5 + 3 + 4)
Probability = 3 / 12
Probability = 1 / 4
Therefore, the likelihood that the closed floor is on the second floor is 1/4 when expressed as a fraction in simplest form.