Assignment: Probability Writing Task
This assignment looks at probability as it relates to risk. Please work the questions in order for the assignment to make the most sense. You may need more information than is provided to answer the questions; if so, please feel free to look up any needed quantities. Total Points Possible: 20Questions
The table below shows the number of deaths in the U.S. in a year due to a variety of causes. For these questions, assume these values are not changing from year to year, and that the population of the United States is 312 million people.| Cause | Deaths |
|---|---|
| Passenger car occupant | 13,100 |
| Motorcycle driver | 4,500 |
| Tornado | 553 |
| Skydiving | 56 |
- What is the probability that an American chosen at random died as a passenger car occupant last year?
- What is the probability that you died as a passenger car occupant last year?
- What is the probability that you will die as a passenger car occupant next year?
- What is the probability that an American chosen at random will die as the result of a tornado next year?
- What is the probability that you will die as the result of a tornado next year?
- Why is this answer different than your answer to the previous question?
- People sometimes claim skydiving is less dangerous than driving. Does the data support this claim?
- People sometimes claim motorcycle riding is less dangerous than driving. Does the data support this claim? What additional information and/or calculations would be useful to evaluate this claim?
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- Probability Writing Task. Authored by: Lippman, David. Located at: http://www.opentextbookstore.com/mathinsociety/. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike.
