Question

Following table shows the birth month of 40 students of class IX.

Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
3	4	2	2	5	1	2	5	3	4	4	4

Find the probability that a student was born in August.

Answer 1

The total number of trials is 40.

Remember the empirical or experimental or observed frequency approach to probability.

If n be the total number of trials of an experiment and A is an event associated to it such that A happens in m-trials. Then the empirical probability of happening of event A is denoted by P (A)  and is given by

P(A) = `m/n`

Let A₁ be the event that the birth month of a chosen student is august.

The number of times A₁ happens is 5.

Therefore, we have

` P(A_1)=5/40`

            =`1/8`