Multiple Choice

Question

The New York Yankees, a member of the Eastern Division of the American League in Major League Baseball (MLB), recently won three consecutive World Series. This table summarizes the ten MLB World Series winners from 1990 to 2000 by division and league. One of these ten World Series winners is to be chosen at random. (NOTE: There was no World Series in 1994 due to a players' strike.)

 

                                                      League

                                             National     American

                       Eastern                2               6

Division            Central                 1              1

                       Western               0               0

 

If the winner is a member of the National league, what is the probability that the winner plays in either the Central or Western Division? round to 3 decimal places if needed

 

a. 0.500

b. 0.333

c. 0.667

d. none of these

Answer 1

1/3. The question is, do you see why?

 

The set of possible NL winners is 3 (the phrasing of the question rules out all of the AL winners).

 

The number of winners that are in Central or Western Division is only 1...because the two Easter Div. NL winners are ruled out of the description of the event whose probability is being sought.