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Use the table to answer the question.

This table shows the number of seedlings for each plant type (A, B, C, D, and E).
Plant Types A B C D E
Number of Seedlings 100 140 80 60 40
A farmer conducted an inventory on his two square kilometers of rainforest; the results are in the table. He plans on randomly selecting a seedling to experiment on when he goes back to the forest. What is the probability that he will randomly pick a type B plant? Write your answer in the simplest form of a fraction.

(1 point)

1 answer

To find the probability of selecting a type B plant, we first need to determine the total number of seedlings and then calculate the fraction of type B seedlings.

From the table, the number of seedlings for each plant type is:

  • A: 100
  • B: 140
  • C: 80
  • D: 60
  • E: 40

Now, we add these numbers together to find the total number of seedlings:

\[ \text{Total seedlings} = 100 + 140 + 80 + 60 + 40 = 420 \]

Next, we find the number of type B seedlings, which is 140.

The probability \( P \) of randomly selecting a type B seedling is given by the formula:

\[ P(\text{B}) = \frac{\text{Number of B seedlings}}{\text{Total seedlings}} = \frac{140}{420} \]

Now, we simplify the fraction \( \frac{140}{420} \):

\[ \frac{140 \div 140}{420 \div 140} = \frac{1}{3} \]

Thus, the probability of randomly picking a type B plant is \( \frac{1}{3} \).