A bag contains eleven balls labeled 1 through 11. One ball will be randomly picked. What is the probability of picking an odd number? Write your answer as a fraction in simplest form.

Answer 1

There are 11 balls in the bag, so there are 11 possible balls that you can choose from the bag. Of these 11 balls, 6 of them are labelled with odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11). There are 6 chances for you to pull an odd number from the bag.

When writing probability as a fraction, the denominator (number on the bottom) should be the total possible outcomes. There are 11 possible outcomes, so the denominator should be 11.

The numerator (number on top) should be the total number of favorable outcomes, or outcomes that we want to happen. We want the probability of picking an odd number, and there are 6 chances to do so, so the numerator should be 6.

The answer is 6 / 11, which is a fraction in simplest form because its numerator and denominator have no common factors.