Question

ohn has to make all 3 free throws to win the game. Assume each free throw is an independent event and that the pressure of the situation has no impact on him. If John is a
80
80% free throw shooter what is the percent chance that John makes all three free throws? Do not round your answer.

Answer 1

To find the probability that John makes all three free throws, we can use the multiplication rule for independent events.

Since John's free throw shooting percentage is 80%, we can express this as a decimal:

\[
P(\text{make a free throw}) = 0.80
\]

Since each free throw is an independent event, we can multiply the probabilities of making each individual free throw together:

\[
P(\text{making all three free throws}) = P(\text{make first}) \times P(\text{make second}) \times P(\text{make third})
\]

This can be calculated as:

\[
P(\text{making all three free throws}) = 0.80 \times 0.80 \times 0.80 = 0.80^3
\]

Now we calculate \(0.80^3\):

\[
0.80^3 = 0.512
\]

To express this as a percentage, we multiply by 100:

\[
0.512 \times 100 = 51.2\%
\]

Therefore, the percent chance that John makes all three free throws is **51.2%**.