Statistics And Probability Question 167

Question: The chance of one event happening is the square of the chance of a second event, but the odds against the first are the cube of the odds against the second. The chance of the first event is

Options:

A) $ \frac{1}{3} $

B) $ \frac{1}{9} $

C) $ \frac{2}{3} $

D) $ \frac{4}{9} $

Show Answer

Answer:

Correct Answer: B

Solution:

  • [b] Let the two events be $ E_1 $ and $ E_2 $ . Let their chances be p and q respectively. Then $ p=q^{2} $ ? (i) The chances of not happening of the events are Odds against the first event $ =\frac{1-p}{p} $ Odds against the second event $ =\frac{1-q}{q} $ Given $ \frac{1-p}{p}={{( \frac{1-q}{q} )}^{3}}\Rightarrow \frac{1-q^{2}}{q^{2}}=\frac{{{(1-q)}^{3}}}{q^{3}} $ [From (i)]

$ \Rightarrow ( \frac{1-q}{q^{2}} )[ (1+q)-\frac{{{(1-q)}^{2}}}{q} ]=0 $ $ \because q\ne 1 $ And $ q\ne 0 $

$ \therefore q(1+q)=1-2q+q^{2}\Rightarrow q=\frac{1}{3} $

$ \therefore $ from (i)
$ \therefore p=q^{2}=\frac{1}{9} $

$ \therefore p(E_1)=p=\frac{1}{9} $