Question

Nate made cookies for a bake sale and has tracked his sales by cookie shape.
diamond 5
heart 45
tree 2
cat 38
What is the experimental probability that the next cookie sold will be in the shape of a heart?
Write your answer as a fraction or whole number.
P(heart)=

Answer 1

To find the experimental probability that the next cookie sold will be in the shape of a heart, we need to determine the total number of cookies sold and then find the fraction of those that are hearts.

First, we calculate the total number of cookies sold:

\[
\text{Total cookies} = \text{diamonds} + \text{hearts} + \text{trees} + \text{cats}
\]
\[
= 5 + 45 + 2 + 38 = 90
\]

Next, we identify the number of cookies that are hearts:

\[
\text{Hearts} = 45
\]

Now, we can calculate the experimental probability of selling a heart-shaped cookie:

\[
P(\text{heart}) = \frac{\text{Number of heart cookies}}{\text{Total number of cookies}} = \frac{45}{90}
\]

To simplify \( \frac{45}{90} \):

\[
= \frac{1}{2}
\]

Thus, the experimental probability that the next cookie sold will be in the shape of a heart is:

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