jar has

13
13 marbles and
6
6 of them are green. You pull 3 marbles without replacement. What is the probability that all are green? Write your answer as a fraction. You do not need to simplify.

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1 answer

To find the probability that all three marbles drawn from the jar are green, we can use the concept of conditional probability.

  1. Total number of marbles: 13
  2. Total number of green marbles: 6
  3. Number of marbles drawn: 3

We need to consider the probability of drawing 3 green marbles in succession without replacement.

  • Probability of drawing the first green marble:
    \[ P(\text{1st green}) = \frac{6}{13} \]

  • Probability of drawing the second green marble (after drawing the first):
    After we draw one green marble, we have 5 green marbles left and 12 total marbles remaining. Thus,
    \[ P(\text{2nd green | 1st green}) = \frac{5}{12} \]

  • Probability of drawing the third green marble (after drawing the first and second):
    After drawing two green marbles, we now have 4 green marbles left and 11 total marbles remaining. Thus,
    \[ P(\text{3rd green | 1st and 2nd green}) = \frac{4}{11} \]

Now, to find the total probability that all three marbles drawn are green, we multiply these probabilities together:

\[ P(\text{All green}) = P(\text{1st green}) \times P(\text{2nd green | 1st green}) \times P(\text{3rd green | 1st and 2nd green}) \]

Substituting the values:

\[ P(\text{All green}) = \frac{6}{13} \times \frac{5}{12} \times \frac{4}{11} \]

Now, calculate the product:

\[ P(\text{All green}) = \frac{6 \times 5 \times 4}{13 \times 12 \times 11} = \frac{120}{1716} \]

So, the probability that all three marbles drawn are green is:

\[ \frac{120}{1716} \]

This is the final answer in a fraction form.