A multiple-choice test has four possible answers for each question. If a student guesses at the answer, what is the probability that he or she selects the correct answer
what is 1 in 4?
1/4
If a multiple-choice test has four possible answers for each question and a student randomly guesses at the answer, the probability that he or she selects the correct answer is 1 out of 4, or 1/4.
To find the probability of selecting the correct answer when guessing on a multiple-choice test, we need to determine the number of choices (n) and the number of correct answers (k).
In this case, there are four possible answers for each question, so n = 4. Out of these four choices, only one is correct, so k = 1.
The probability of selecting the correct answer when guessing is given by the formula:
Probability = Number of favorable outcomes / Total number of possible outcomes
In this case, the number of favorable outcomes is 1 (because there is only one correct answer), and the total number of possible outcomes is 4 (because there are four choices in total).
Therefore, the probability of selecting the correct answer when guessing on a multiple-choice test is:
Probability = 1 / 4
Simplifying this fraction gives us:
Probability = 0.25 or 25%
So, the probability that the student selects the correct answer by guessing is 0.25 or 25%.