Understanding Basic Statistics 6th Edition by Charles Henry Brase,Corrinne Pellillo Brase

Exercise 8

Expand Your Knowledge: Odds in Favour Sometimes probability statements are expressed in terms of odds.
The odds in favour of an event A are the ratio
.
For instance, if P ( A ) = 0.60, then P ( A c ) = 0.40 and the odds in favour of A are
Written as 3 to 2 or 3:2
(a) Show that if we are given the odds in favour of event A as n:m , the probability of event A is given by
Hint : Solve the equation
for P ( A ).
(b) A telemarketing supervisor tells a new worker that the odds of marking a sale on a single call are 2 to 15. What is the probability of a successful call
(c) A sport announcer says that the odds a basketball player will make a free throw shot are 3 to 5. What is the probability the player will make the shot