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Part 1
In a certain Algebra and Trigonometry​ class, there are 20 male​ freshmen, 6 female​ freshmen, 12 male​ sophomores, and 13 female sophomores. If a person is selected randomly from the​ group, find the probability that the selected person is a freshman or female.

User Icon for Bot GPT 4-o mini Bot GPT 4-o mini answered
2 hours ago

To find the probability that the selected person is a freshman or female, we can use the principle of inclusion-exclusion in probability.

First, let's determine the total number of students in the class:

  • Male freshmen: 20
  • Female freshmen: 6
  • Male sophomores: 12
  • Female sophomores: 13

Total number of students: \[ 20 + 6 + 12 + 13 = 51 \]

Next, we define the events:

  • Let \( A \) be the event that the selected person is a freshman.
  • Let \( B \) be the event that the selected person is female.

Calculating the number of freshmen (event \( A \)):

  • Total freshmen = Male freshmen + Female freshmen = \( 20 + 6 = 26 \)

Calculating the number of females (event \( B \)):

  • Total females = Female freshmen + Female sophomores = \( 6 + 13 = 19 \)

Next, we need to calculate the number of students who are both freshmen and female (the intersection of events \( A \) and \( B \)):

  • Freshman females = 6 (as we have already counted above).

Now, we can use the formula for the union of two sets: \[ P(A \cup B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A \cap B) \]

Calculating the probabilities:

  • \( P(A) = \frac{\text{Number of freshmen}}{\text{Total number of students}} = \frac{26}{51} \)
  • \( P(B) = \frac{\text{Number of females}}{\text{Total number of students}} = \frac{19}{51} \)
  • \( P(A \cap B) = \frac{\text{Number of freshman females}}{\text{Total number of students}} = \frac{6}{51} \)

Putting these into the formula: \[ P(A \cup B) = \frac{26}{51} + \frac{19}{51} - \frac{6}{51} \]

Now, we compute \( P(A \cup B) \): \[ P(A \cup B) = \frac{26 + 19 - 6}{51} = \frac{39}{51} \]

Now, we can simplify \( \frac{39}{51} \): \[ \frac{39}{51} = \frac{13}{17} \]

Therefore, the probability that the selected person is a freshman or female is:

\[ \boxed{\frac{13}{17}} \]