/*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none} Problem 5 Suppose that in a certain popula... [FREE SOLUTION] | 91Ó°ÊÓ

91Ó°ÊÓ

Suppose that in a certain population of married couples, \(30 \%\) of the husbands smoke, \(20 \%\) of the wives smoke, and in \(8 \%\) of the couples both the husband and the wife smoke. Is the smoking status (smoker or nonsmoker) of the husband independent of that of the wife? Why or why not?

Short Answer

Expert verified
No, the smoking status of the husband is not independent of that of the wife, because the joint probability of both smoking is not equal to the product of the individual probabilities (0.08 != 0.06).

Step by step solution

01

Understand the concept of independence

Two events A and B are independent if the probability of A occurring is the same whether or not B occurs. Mathematically, A and B are independent if and only if the probability of both A and B occurring is equal to the product of their individual probabilities, which means P(A and B) = P(A) * P(B).
02

Identify the given probabilities

The problem provides the probability that the husband smokes, denoted as P(H) = 0.30, the probability that the wife smokes, denoted as P(W) = 0.20, and the probability that both the husband and wife smoke, denoted as P(H and W) = 0.08.
03

Apply the independence criterion

To check if the smoking status is independent between husband and wife, calculate the product of the individual probabilities P(H) * P(W) and compare it with the joint probability P(H and W).
04

Calculate the product of individual probabilities

Compute the product of the probability that the husband smokes and the probability that the wife smokes: P(H) * P(W) = 0.30 * 0.20 = 0.06.
05

Compare the calculated product with the joint probability

Compare the product of individual probabilities P(H) * P(W) = 0.06 with the given joint probability P(H and W) = 0.08.
06

Conclude the independence

Since P(H and W) = 0.08 is not equal to P(H) * P(W) = 0.06, the smoking status of the husband is not independent of that of the wife. The events are dependent because knowing the smoking status of one influences the probability of the smoking status of the other.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with 91Ó°ÊÓ!

Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Event Independence
Understanding event independence is essential for various probability calculations. Two events are considered independent when the outcome of one event does not affect the outcome of another. Formally, we say events A and B are independent if the probability of A occurring does not change whether B occurs or not; this is expressed mathematically as:
\[ P(A \text{ and } B) = P(A) \times P(B) \].
In the provided exercise, we looked to determine if the smoking status of husbands was independent of that of their wives in a population. Independence would mean that a husband's likelihood of smoking would not be influenced by whether his wife smokes, and vice versa. To verify this, we compared the joint probability of both smoking against the product of their individual smoking probabilities.
Joint Probability
The joint probability is a statistical measure that calculates the likelihood of two events happening at the same time. It's denoted as
\( P(A \text{ and } B) \),
and is fundamental in understanding the relationship between events. For independent events, the joint probability should equal the product of the probabilities of each event occurring separately. In our example, we calculated the joint probability of both the husband and the wife smoking, which was provided as
\( P(H \text{ and } W) = 0.08 \).
Comparing this to the product of their individual probabilities was key in determining their independence.
Probability Calculation
Probability calculation involves quantifying the chances of an event occurring. For a single event, it is simply the ratio of favorable outcomes to the total possible outcomes. When it comes to multiple events, calculations can become complex, involving additional rules and considerations, particularly around independence and joint probabilities.
In the scenario with smoking habits, we first calculated the product of the individual probabilities for each of the spouses smoking:
\( P(H) \times P(W) = 0.30 \times 0.20 \),
resulting in
\(0.06\).
Since this product did not match the joint probability of both spouses smoking, we concluded that these events are dependent. It's essential for students to grasp this process as it demonstrates a practical application of probability calculations in evaluating the dependency between events.

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

If a woman takes an early pregnancy test, she will either test positive, meaning that the test says she is pregnant, or test negative, meaning that the test says she is not pregnant. Suppose that if a woman really is pregnant, there is a \(98 \%\) chance that she will test positive. Also, suppose that if a woman really is not pregnant, there is a \(99 \%\) chance that she will test negative. (a) Suppose that 1,000 women take early pregnancy tests and that 100 of them really are pregnant. What is the probability that a randomly chosen woman from this group will test positive? (b) Suppose that 1,000 women take early pregnancy tests and that 50 of them really are pregnant. What is the probability that a randomly chosen woman from this group will test positive?

The following data table is taken from the study reported in Exercise 3.3.1. Here "stressed" means that the person reported that most days are extremely stressful or quite stressful; "not stressed" means that the person reported that most days are a bit stressful, not very stressful, or not at all stressful. $$ \begin{array}{|l|rrr|r|} \hline &&{\text { Income }} & \\ & \text { Low } & \text { Medium } & \text { High } & \text { Total } \\ \hline \text { Stressed } & 526 & 274 & 216 & 1,016 \\ \text { Not stressed } & 1,954 & 1,680 & 1,899 & 5,533 \\ \text { Total } & 2,480 & 1,954 & 2,115 & 6,549 \\ \hline \end{array} $$ (a) What is the probability that someone in this study is stressed? (b) Given that someone in this study is from the high income group, what is the probability that the person is stressed? (c) Compare your answers to parts (a) and (b). Is being stressed independent of having high income? Why or why not?

If two carriers of the gene for albinism marry, each of their children has probability \(\frac{1}{4}\) of being albino (see Example 3.6.1). If such a couple has six children, what is the probability that (a) none will be albino? (b) at least one will be albino? [Hint: Use part (a) to answer part (b); note that "at least one" means "one or more."]

Suppose that a disease is inherited via a sex-linked mode of inheritance so that a male offspring has a \(50 \%\) chance of inheriting the disease, but a female offspring has no chance of inheriting the disease. Further suppose that \(51.3 \%\) of births are male. What is the probability that a randomly chosen child will be affected by the disease?

A group of college students were surveyed to learn how many times they had visited a dentist in the previous year. \({ }^{14}\) The probability distribution for \(Y,\) the number of visits, is given by the following table: $$ \begin{array}{|cc|} \hline Y \text { (No. Visits) } & \text { Probability } \\ \hline 0 & 0.15 \\ 1 & 0.50 \\ 2 & 0.35 \\ \hline \text { Total } & 1.00 \\ \hline \end{array} $$ Calculate the mean, \(\mu_{Y},\) of the number of visits.

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Biology Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.