Use the image to answer the question. A corn hole board is pictured. The object of the game is to toss a beanbag in the circular hole of a 48-by-24-inch board. If the diameter of the circle is 6 inches, what is the geometric probability an object will hit the circle on the board? Assume that the object will hit the board. Show your work or explain how you got your answer.

1 answer

To calculate the geometric probability of hitting the circle on the corn hole board, we first need to find the area of both the board and the circular hole.

  1. Calculate the area of the board: The dimensions of the board are given as 48 inches by 24 inches. \[ \text{Area of the board} = \text{length} \times \text{width} = 48 , \text{inches} \times 24 , \text{inches} = 1152 , \text{square inches} \]

  2. Calculate the area of the circle: The diameter of the circle is given as 6 inches, so the radius \( r \) is: \[ r = \frac{\text{diameter}}{2} = \frac{6 , \text{inches}}{2} = 3 , \text{inches} \] The area of the circle is calculated using the formula for the area of a circle, \( A = \pi r^2 \): \[ \text{Area of the circle} = \pi (3 , \text{inches})^2 = \pi \times 9 , \text{inches}^2 = 9\pi , \text{square inches} \]

  3. Calculate the geometric probability: The geometric probability \( P \) of hitting the circle when tossing an object onto the board is the area of the circle divided by the area of the board: \[ P = \frac{\text{Area of the circle}}{\text{Area of the board}} = \frac{9\pi , \text{square inches}}{1152 , \text{square inches}} \]

  4. Calculating the numerical value: We can use \( \pi \approx 3.14 \) for a numerical approximation, or you can keep it in terms of \( \pi \) if required. \[ P = \frac{9 \times 3.14}{1152} \approx \frac{28.26}{1152} \approx 0.0245 \] So, \[ P \approx 0.0245 \]

Alternatively, if kept in terms of \(\pi\): \[ P = \frac{9\pi}{1152} \approx \frac{0.0283}{1} \text{ (keep \(\pi\) in the numerator for exact probabilities)} \]

Thus, the geometric probability that the object will hit the circular hole on the board is approximately 0.0245 or \( \frac{9\pi}{1152} \) in exact terms.