What Is the Probability That Only One Household Speaks Spanish?

In summary, the probability that only one of the four households speaks Spanish at home is 0.5625, or 56.25%.
  • #1
glass.shards
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Homework Statement


In a neighbourhood, 75% of households speak only English at home, and 5% speak only Spanish at home.

Four households are randomly chosen. Given that at least one of the four households speaks only Spanish at home, what is the probability that only one speaks Spanish at home?

Homework Equations


P(B|A) = P(B&A)/P(A)
A = event that at least one of the four households speak only Spanish
B = event that exactly one speaks only Spanish

The Attempt at a Solution


P(A) = 1 - (75/100)(74/99)(73/98)(72/97) (1 - prob. that none speak Spanish)
P(B&A) = ?

Does P(B&A) = P(B)? Which would mean P(B) = 4(75/100)(74/99)(73/98)(5/97)

Attempted solution: P(B|A) = 0.125

Thanks in advance! :)
 
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  • #2
The question is not completely clear, I think. It accounts for 80% of houses, but what about the other 20? Are we to assume that they speak both Spanish and English or do they use another language? I will assume that the 20% speak both Spanish and English. I will also assume that the number of households in the pool is very large so that as each of the 4 houses are taken out of the pool, the probabilities for the next random one chosen stay the same.

With these assumptions, the problem is very simple, I think. At least one of the 4 is Spanish only, so I think the problem is equivalent to this: 3 houses are randomly picked, what is the probability that 0 speak Spanish?

25% of houses speak (at least some) Spanish, and 75% don't. What is the probability that all 3 are from the 75% that don't?
 

1. What is conditional probability?

Conditional probability is a mathematical concept that measures the likelihood of an event occurring given that another event has already occurred. It is calculated by dividing the probability of the joint occurrence of both events by the probability of the occurrence of the first event.

2. How is conditional probability different from regular probability?

Regular probability measures the likelihood of an event occurring without taking into account any other information. On the other hand, conditional probability takes into account some prior knowledge or condition when calculating the probability of an event.

3. What is the formula for calculating conditional probability?

The formula for calculating conditional probability is P(A|B) = P(A∩B) / P(B), where P(A|B) is the probability of event A given event B, P(A∩B) is the joint probability of both events A and B occurring, and P(B) is the probability of event B occurring.

4. How is conditional probability used in real life?

Conditional probability is used in many real-life situations, such as weather forecasting, medical diagnosis, and risk assessment. For example, a weather forecast may use conditional probability to calculate the likelihood of rain given the current temperature and humidity levels.

5. What is the relationship between conditional probability and independence?

If two events are independent, then the occurrence of one event does not affect the probability of the other event. In this case, the conditional probability of one event given the other event is the same as the regular probability of that event. However, if two events are dependent, then the conditional probability of one event given the other event will be different from the regular probability of that event.

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