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A survey found that \(73 \%\) of Americans have a home phone, \(83 \%\) have a cell phone and \(58 \%\) of people have both. a. If a person has a home phone, what's the probability that they have a cell phone also? b. Are having a home phone and a cell phone independent events? Explain. c. Are having a home phone and a cell phone mutually exclusive? Explain.

Short Answer

Expert verified
a. The probability that a person has a cell phone given they have a home phone is approximately \(79.4\%\). b. Having a home phone and a cell phone are not independent events. c. Having a home phone and a cell phone are not mutually exclusive events.

Step by step solution

01

Define the probabilities

Let's define the following probabilities: Let P(H) be the probability a person has a home phone, which is \(73\%\). Let P(C) be the probability a person has a cell phone, which is \(83\%\). And P(H ∩ C) be the probability a person has both a home phone and a cell phone, which is \(58\%\).
02

Calculate the conditional probability

The conditional probability that they have a cell phone given they have a home phone is P(C|H), which is the probability of the intersection of C and H, divided by the probability of H. So, P(C|H) = P(C ∩ H) / P(H) = \(58\% / 73\% = 0.794\).
03

Check for independence of events

Two events A and B are independent if and only if P(A ∩ B) = P(A)P(B). So, let's calculate P(H)P(C) = \(73\% * 83\% = 0.606\). As we see, P(H)P(C) is not equal to P(H ∩ C). Thus, the two events are not independent.
04

Check for mutually exclusiveness

Two events A and B are mutually exclusive if and only if P(A ∩ B) = 0. Here, P(H ∩ C) = \(58\%\), which is not equal to 0. Thus, the events are not mutually exclusive.

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Key Concepts

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

Conditional Probability
Conditional probability is the likelihood of an event occurring given that another event has already happened. In this context, we determine the probability of an American having a cell phone given they own a home phone.

To find this, we use the formula:
  • The probability of the second event occurring (cell phone user), given the first event (home phone user).
  • It's represented as \( P(C|H) \).
This formula is derived from dividing the probability of both events (intersection) by the probability of the first event.

Here, \( P(C|H) = \frac{P(C \cap H)}{P(H)} \). For this exercise, it calculates to \( \frac{58\%}{73\%} = 0.794 \). This means there's a 79.4% chance that someone with a home phone also has a cell phone.
Independence of Events
Two events are considered independent when the occurrence of one event does not affect the occurrence of the other.

In mathematical terms, events A and B are independent if \( P(A \cap B) = P(A) \times P(B) \). This indicates no influence between the two events.
  • For example, flipping a coin twice where the result of the first flip doesn't affect the second.
For the problem with home phones and cell phones, we calculate:
\[P(H \cap C) = 0.58 \]Comparing with \( P(H) \times P(C) = 0.73 \times 0.83 = 0.606 \), which is not equal.

Thus, because \( P(H \cap C) eq P(H) \times P(C) \), the events are not independent. The probability of owning a cell phone is influenced by owning a home phone.
Mutually Exclusive Events
Mutually exclusive events cannot happen at the same time. If one event occurs, the other cannot. In terms of probabilities, two events A and B are mutually exclusive if \( P(A \cap B) = 0 \).

This is often illustrated with situations like tossing a coin where the result can either be heads or tails — not both.
  • In your daily routine, either you're awake or asleep, not both.
In our home phone and cell phone scenario, the intersection probability \( P(H \cap C) \) is given as 0.58, not zero.

Therefore, these events are not mutually exclusive, as it's entirely possible for someone to have both phones at the same time.
Intersection of Events
The intersection of events, denoted as \( A \cap B \), represents the scenario where both events occur simultaneously. It's the overlap of two separate events.

For instance, if one event is owning a home phone and the other is owning a cell phone, the intersection is the probability of someone owning both.
  • Think of it as the common section in a Venn diagram where both circles overlap.
Calculating the intersection helps in understanding scenarios where both conditions are met.

In this survey case, \( P(H \cap C) = 58\% \). It's a substantial overlap, showing most people who have a home phone also carry a cell phone, illustrating the compatibility and relevance of the events in study.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

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