Q.A pair of dice is thrown and the sum of the numbers appearing on them is observed to be 9. The probability that the number 4 has appeared on one of the dice is:
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Given that two dice sum to 9, we need the conditional probability that at least one die shows 4. Of the 4 equally likely ways to get a sum of 9, exactly 2 include a 4, so the answer is .
This is a conditional probability problem. The key insight is that once we observe the sum is 9, our sample space shrinks dramatically — we're no longer considering all 36 possible outcomes when throwing two dice, but only those outcomes that produce a sum of 9. Within this restricted world, we ask: in how many of these does a 4 appear?
The concept at work here is the definition of conditional probability:
Let me work through this systematically.
Step 1: Identify all outcomes that give a sum of 9
When two dice are thrown, the pairs where are:
So there are exactly 4 outcomes in our conditional sample space.
We treat the dice as distinguishable (first die, second die), so and are different outcomes.
Step 2: Count outcomes where 4 appears on at least one die
Looking at our list:
- — no 4
- — 4 on first die ✓
- — 4 on second die ✓
- — no 4
Exactly 2 outcomes include the number 4.
Step 3: Calculate the conditional probability …
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