To simulate the number of male and female births at the hospital using a random digit table, we need to ensure that the representation of boys and girls is proportional to their typical birth rates, assuming an approximately equal chance of either gender at birth.
Given that, let's analyze the options:
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Option A and C use the digit representation where boys and girls have unequal representation. In A, 0-4 represent boys (5 representations) and 5-9 represent girls (5 representations), which is fine. In C, however, 0-5 (6 representations) represent boys and only 6-9 (4 representations) represent girls, leading to a bias towards boys, which is not ideal.
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Option B and D both represent boys (0-4 or 0-5, depending on the option) and girls (5-9 or 6-9) and mention a more extensive simulation (using 100 batches of 10 digits).
In option B, the representation is equal (0-4 for boys and 5-9 for girls) throughout all batches. This captures the randomness better for simulating equal chances for boys and girls.
In option D, there is a bias towards boys again, as discussed previously.
Therefore, the best choice for a fair simulation of the number of male and female births is:
B) Let the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent the birth of a boy, and let digits 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 represent the birth of a girl. Use a table of random digits. Choose the first 10 digits in the table and record the number of boy and girl births. Continue to choose batches of 10 digits for a total of 100 times, recording the number of boy and girl births.