Question

A teacher recorded the primary languages that the children in his class speak at home.
Chinese 8
Spanish 4
English 2
French 1
Vietnamese 1
What is the probability that a randomly selected child speaks primarily Chinese at home?
Write your answer as a fraction or whole number.
P(Chinese)=

Answer 1

To calculate the probability that a randomly selected child speaks primarily Chinese at home, you need to divide the number of children who speak Chinese by the total number of children in the class.

First, let's find the total number of children:

- Chinese: 8
- Spanish: 4
- English: 2
- French: 1
- Vietnamese: 1

Total number of children = 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 16

Now, the probability \( P(\text{Chinese}) \) is calculated as follows:

\[
P(\text{Chinese}) = \frac{\text{Number of children who speak Chinese}}{\text{Total number of children}} = \frac{8}{16} = \frac{1}{2}
\]

Thus,

\[
P(\text{Chinese}) = \frac{1}{2}
\]