probability songs

Question

Charles has three songs on a playlist. Each song is by a different artist. The artists are Joey McIntyre, Jennifer Lopez, and Elvis Presley. He programs his player to play the songs in a random order, without repetition. What is the probability that the first song is by Elvis Presley and the second song is by Joey McIntyre? Write your answer as a fraction or a decimal, rounded to four decimal places.

The probability that the first song is by Elvis Presley and the second song is by Joey McIntyre is

Answer 1

Basic application of probability theory.

Probability of an event = number of ways for selected event to happen / number of ways for any outcome

1st selection, probability of the Elvis song being played out of 3 songs available is 1 / 3 or .3333

2nd selection, probability of Joey song being played out of 2 songs available is 1 / 2 or .5000

(note: since selection is made without replacement, the second selection has only two to select from)

Probability of event 1 and 2 happening is. .333 x .5 or .1667