What's the Chance, Part Deux

A quick review...

The GED often features one or two probability questions.

You will PROBABLY get one. Or two. 

One way to look at these questions is to think...

The chances of one thing happening...

                           ...divided by all possible chances.

For example, what is the chance of spinning a "yellow" when you use the spinner below?

The chance of the "one" thing is 1. (There is one yellow section.)

The "all possible chances" is 4. (There are 4 sections.)

The chances of one thing happening...

                           ...divided by all possible chances is..

1/4. 

Or... 1 out of 4 or...

.25 or...

25%

(These are all equivalents.)

So... what if you have 2 spinners?

What are the chances of both spinners landing on a section with the word "yellow"?

The chance for the first spinner is ¼

The chance for the 2nd spinner is ⅕

You now need to multiply these fractions.

¼  x ⅕ = 1/20. 

(Remember, 1 x 1 = 1 and 4  x  5 = 20)

What are the chances of both spinners landing on a section with the word "yellow"? 

 1/20.