a box of writing utensils on a teachers desk contains 8 red pencils, 7 green pencils, 9 red markers and 5 green markers. What is the probability of selecting a red writing utensil or marker

Answer 1

assuming that "red writing utensil or marker" means "red writing utensil or red marker", then
(8+9)/(8+7+9+5) = _____
otherwise, adjust the number of successful items.