Your favorite breakfast cereal contains a fidget toy in each box. There are three different fidget toys in the complete collection (spinner, pop strip, squishy ball) and each toy has an equal chance of being in each box.

Question

You want to figure out what the probability is that you will get more than one squishy ball if you buy four boxes of the cereal. Which experiment could be used to simulate this situation?
Responses
A You flip a coin 4 times and record the number of times you get tails. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more tails.You flip a coin 4 times and record the number of times you get tails. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more tails.
B You put 10 each of 4 different colored marbles in a bag for a total of 40 marbles. You draw 3 marbles out without replacing them and record how many are red. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more red marbles.You put 10 each of 4 different colored marbles in a bag for a total of 40 marbles. You draw 3 marbles out without replacing them and record how many are red. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more red marbles.
C You have a spinner equally divided into 3 sections, with each section colored red, blue, or green. You spin the spinner 4 times and record how many times you get a red. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more red spins.You have a spinner equally divided into 3 sections, with each section colored red, blue, or green. You spin the spinner 4 times and record how many times you get a red. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more red spins.
D You draw 4 cards from a standard deck of cards and record how many hearts you get. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more hearts.You draw 4 cards from a standard deck of cards and record how many hearts you get. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more hearts.

Answer 1

To find a suitable simulation for determining the probability of getting more than one squishy ball when buying four boxes of cereal with three different toys (spinner, pop strip, squishy ball) and equal chances for each toy, we should look for a scenario that mimics this probability distribution.

Each box can contain one of three toys with equal probabilities:

• Probability of getting a squishy ball = 1/3
• Probability of getting a spinner = 1/3
• Probability of getting a pop strip = 1/3

The target experiment must involve a similar setup where we are also interested in counting occurrences of a specific outcome (in this case, the squishy ball) over multiple trials.

Let’s analyze the provided options:

A. Flipping a coin for tails does not represent the situation since there are only two outcomes and does not reflect the specific toys involved.

B. Drawing without replacement from a bag of marbles does not fit, as this changes the probabilities after each draw, which is not analogical to independent box purchases.

C. Spinning a spinner divided into three sections aligns with the situation well since it also has three equally likely outcomes. Counting how many times you get red (if red represents squishy ball in this context) works to simulate the scenario accurately.

D. Drawing cards where the number of hearts is not suitable, as there are 52 cards and different probabilities for each suit, differing from the independent and uniform distribution of toys in cereal boxes.

Given this analysis, option C is the most appropriate choice because it simulates an experiment with three equally likely outcomes repeated a fixed number of times (just as you would buy four boxes with the possibility of getting a squishy ball each time).

Thus, the response is: C - You have a spinner equally divided into 3 sections, with each section colored red, blue, or green. You spin the spinner 4 times and record how many times you get a red. You do 10 trials of the experiment, then calculate the percentage of trials that resulted in 2 or more red spins.