Q.According to recent research, air turbulence is increasing in various regions across the world due to climate change. Air turbulence makes flying difficult and often delays flights. Assume that an aeroplane experiences severe turbulence, moderate turbulence or light turbulence with equal probability. Further, the probabilities of the aeroplane arriving late at its destination due to severe turbulence, moderate turbulence and light turbulence are , and respectively. Based on the above information, answer the following questions:
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →This is a Law of Total Probability and Bayes' Theorem problem. The three turbulence types are equally likely (each ). The overall probability of a late arrival is the weighted average of the three conditional probabilities: . Given a late arrival, the probability it was due to moderate turbulence is .
The Core Idea: Why This Works
When a problem gives you "chances of an event happening given different conditions" and asks for the "overall chance of the event," you are looking at the Law of Total Probability. Think of it as a weighted average: each condition (severe, moderate, light turbulence) contributes its own "late arrival rate," but you must weight each rate by how often that condition occurs.
The second part — "given that the event happened, what was the cause?" — is the classic Bayes' Theorem territory. It reverses the conditional probability: you know , but you want . The formula is simply the share of the "moderate contribution" in the total "late probability."
Let’s define events clearly:
- : severe turbulence
- : moderate turbulence
- : light turbulence
- : airplane arrives late
We are told: (equal probability).
And: , , .
Step-by-Step Solution
1. Find the total probability of a late arrival.
The Law of Total Probability states:
Since each , we factor it out:
Add the decimals: , then .
Thus:
As a decimal, . So the airplane arrives late about of the time.
Notice that the three conditional probabilities (0.55, 0.37, 0.17) are all different, but because the turbulence types are equally likely, the overall probability is just their arithmetic mean. If the prior probabilities were unequal, you would need a weighted mean instead.
2. Given that the airplane arrived late, find the probability it was due to moderate turbulence.
We want . By Bayes' Theorem:
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