Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuan
A dog has five puppies. What are the odds that all of them are female?
a) 1/32
b) 1/6?
|
Kerry is correct.
1 in 32.
It’s a factorial thing.
There’s a 1 in two chance any will be female, so start with the number 2 and do the math:
2x1=2 for the 1 in 2 chance the first one is a female.
Then for the rest of the puppies:
2x2=4 (1 in 4 the second one is a female too)
Then continue:
4x2=8 (for the 3rd puppy being female too)
and so forth for all 5 puppies:
8x2=16 (for the 4th)
and:
16x2=32 (for the 5th)
Thus, 1 in 32 chance of all five being females.
No trick to that.
(Unless I'm totally wrong, in which case, I'm glad I don't own the dog. And you're glad I don't teach math.)
