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Question from Celeste, a student:

Can you please tell me how to set up this problem to find the answer. I know they are independent from there I don't know.
a coin and a regular six-sided die are tossed together once. What is the probability that the coin shows a head or the die has a 5 on the upward face?

Celeste,

I hope I can help you with one more step. For events A and B

Pr(A or B) = Pr(A) + Pr(B) - Pr(A and B),

where Pr is probability. If A is the event that you toss a head on the coin and B is the event that you roll a 5 on the die then you can calculate the probability of A or B if you can find the probability of A and B. What does the fact that A and B are independent tell you about Pr(A and B)?

Penny

 

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