To find the likelihood of randomly picking a white ball from the jar, we need to look at the number of white balls compared to the total number of balls.
There are 3 white balls and a total of 25 balls.
The probability of picking a white ball is calculated as follows:
\[ \text{Probability of white ball} = \frac{\text{Number of white balls}}{\text{Total number of balls}} = \frac{3}{25} \]
This fraction is approximately 0.12 or 12%.
In terms of likelihood:
- "impossible" would correspond to a probability of 0.
- "very unlikely" typically refers to probabilities much less than 50%.
- "less likely than not" would correspond to probabilities under 50% but higher than "very unlikely."
- "likely" means a probability greater than 50%.
Since a probability of 12% indicates that it is less than 50%, but not as low as "impossible," it falls under the category of "very unlikely."
Therefore, the best response to describe the likelihood of randomly picking a white ball is "very unlikely."