High School

There are 141 identical plastic chips numbered 1 through 141 in a box. What is the probability of reaching into the box and randomly drawing a chip numbered smaller than 42?

Express your answer as a simplified fraction or a decimal rounded to four decimal places.

Answer :

The probability of drawing a chip numbered smaller than 42 from a box of 141 chips is 41 / 141, which simplifies to approximately 0.2908. This answer uses the ratio of favorable outcomes to total outcomes.

To determine the probability, we must consider the total number of possible outcomes and the number of favorable outcomes. The total number of plastic chips is 141, so there are 141 possible outcomes when drawing a chip.

The favorable outcomes are the chips numbered from 1 to 41, as these are the numbers smaller than 42. Therefore, there are 41 favorable outcomes.

To find the probability, we use the formula:

Probability = (Number of favorable outcomes) / (Total number of possible outcomes)

Substituting the values, we get:

Probability = 41 / 141

To express this as a simplified fraction or a decimal rounded to four decimal places, we first divide 41 by 141:

41 / 141 ≈ 0.2908

Therefore, the probability of drawing a chip numbered smaller than 42 is approximately 0.2908.