Rachelle B. answered • 02/04/23
College Probability Teacher and Tutor who is familiar with Statistics
In this instance, one has to assume that the numbers 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8 all have equal portions on the spinner. Therefore, since there are 7 numbers on the spinner, assuming this is the case, then the probability of landing on any one of these numbers is 1/7. Anything to the contrary would require a picture or knowing the specific percentage that each number took up on the spinner.
Therefore, assuming each number does take up an equal portion of the spinner, P(less than 7) means the probability that the spinner will land on a number less than 7. Since this is less than 7, this means that the number 7 is not included in this calculation. Therefore, one needs to count the number of options available on the spinner that are less than 7. Those numbers would be 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. So there are 5 numbers that are less than 7 out of the total of 7 numbers. Therefore, P(less than 7) = 5/7.
Since the answer says to write your answer as a percentage rounded to the nearest tenth, if you have a calculator, you can simply take 5 divided by 7 and then multiply it by 100. Then you would round your answer to the nearest tenth, which is one decimal place. In order to round properly, look to the digit in the place value after place value you are asked to round to. Therefore, you need to look at the digit in the hundredths place. The answer comes out to be 71.42857143 in a calculator. If you look at the digit in the hundredths place, which is 2 digits after the decimal, there is a 2. Since this digit is less than 5 (meaning it is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4), you will keep the previous numbers the same and you will not have the digit in the hundredths place in your answer, since you were asked to round to the tenths place. Therefore, the correct answer written as a percentage rounded to the nearest tenth would be: 71.4%.
If you do not have a calculator, you would have to create an equation that looks like this: 5 / 7 = x / 100 (because percent means over 100). You would then have to solve for x. You can do that by cross multiplying. Therefore, 5 * 100 = 7 * x, which means 500 = 7x. Then, the opposite of multiplying x by 7 is dividing by 7. So then you would divide both sides of that equation by 7. You would have to do this by hand and go out to the hundredths place only. You should then end up with 71.42. Then follow the steps as listed above and obtain the 71.4% for the answer.
