Statistics And Probability Question 286

Question: A drawer contains 5 brown socks and 4 blue socks well mixed. A man reaches the drawer and pulls out 2 socks at random. What is the probability that they match

Options:

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

B) $ \frac{5}{8} $

C) $ \frac{5}{9} $

D) $ \frac{7}{12} $

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Answer:

Correct Answer: A

Solution:

  •                 Out of 9 socks, 2 can be drawn in  $ {}^{9}C_2 $  ways.                    Two socks drawn from the drawer will match if either both are brown of both are blue. Therefore favourable number of cases is  $ {}^{5}C_2+{}^{4}C_2. $                       Hence the required probability  $ =\frac{{}^{5}C_2+{}^{4}C_2}{{}^{9}C_2}=\frac{4}{9}. $