ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Elementary Probability Videos 5 videos

SAT Math 1.3 Statistics and Probability
276 Views

SAT Math 1.3 Statistics and Probability. Approximately what is the probability that they will be placed in alphabetical order?

SAT Math 1.4 Statistics and Probability
380 Views

SAT Math 1.4 Statistics and Probability. If two standard 6-sided dice are rolled, what is the probability that the sum of the dice will be gre...

SAT Math 1.5 Statistics and Probability
358 Views

SAT Math 1.5 Statistics and Probability. If Silas draws one card, then places it in his pocket and draws another, what is the probability that...

See All

SAT Math 1.3 Statistics and Probability 276 Views


Share It!


Description:

SAT Math 1.3 Statistics and Probability. Approximately what is the probability that they will be placed in alphabetical order?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:02

Here’s your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Bookshelves.

00:06

They’re those antiquated things you can… put your Kindle on.

00:12

Four books, each with different titles, are going to be placed on a shelf.

00:16

Approximately what is the probability that they will be placed in alphabetical order?

00:21

And here are the potential answers…

00:27

No matter how many books we have, there is only one way

00:30

to put them in alphabetical order if they all have different titles.

00:33

So…out of all of the different ways to order these books, only one is a favorable outcome.

00:40

Since probability can be calculated with the formula: favorable over number of possible ways…

00:47

…we only need to figure out the number of possible ways to solve this problem.

00:51

The possible ways we can order 4 books sounds like a permutations problem.

00:56

There are 4 slots in which we can place books.

00:59

In the first slot, there are 4 choices…meaning if we were to randomly choose a book to put there,

01:03

any of the 4 would be fine and dandy. Now, we have 3 left.

01:08

In the second slot, there are 3 to choose from, since we already placed the first one.

01:13

Next, there are 2 to choose from, and then only 1.

01:16

We multiply all of these numbers together to find out the total number of possible permutations.

01:22

When we randomly place books, there are 24 ways to place 4 of them.

01:26

Out of those 24, only 1 is in alphabetical order.

01:31

That comes out to be about to be 1 over 24 or about 4%, so our answer is (B).

Related Videos

SAT Math 2.1 Geometry and Measurement
2779 Views

SAT Math 2.1 Geometry and Measurement. What is the measure of angle z in terms of x and y?

SAT Math 9.4 Algebra and Functions
1300 Views

SAT Math 9.4 Algebra and Functions

SAT Math 9.2 Algebra and Functions
377 Views

SAT Math 9.2 Algebra and Functions

SAT Math: Identifying an Equation for the Average of Two Percentages
23 Views

In 2014, the unemployment rate of one county in California was 7%. In another county, the unemployment rate was 11%. Which of the following express...

SAT Math: Which Equation Represents Profit?
13 Views

Angela is making cookies for a bake sale. She expects each batch of her cookies to sell for $40. It costs her $10 to make one batch of cookies, and...