Lavonne’s mother has brown eyes, and her father has blue eyes. Lavonne has brown eyes, and her husband has blue eyes. She knows that her children are equally likely to have brown or blue eyes. What is the probability that her first child will have blue eyes? If her first child has brown eyes, what is the probability that the second child will have blue eyes?

Answer 1

prob(blue) = prob(brown) = 1/2

a) so prob(first child brown) = 1/2

since these prob's are independent, that is, just because the first child has brown eyes, does not mean the second is more likely to have blue eyes

so prob(2nd have blue) = 1/2