AskSia

Plus

Probability of 1 person being picked when picking 2 out of 4 people.

Feb 5, 2024

Probability of 1 person being picked when picking 2 out of 4 people.

Solution by Steps

step 1

Calculate the total number of ways to pick 2 people out of 4 without regard to order:

C(4, 2) = \frac{4!}{2!(4-2)!}

step 2

Calculate the number of ways to pick 1 specific person and 1 other person from the remaining 3:

C(3, 1) = \frac{3!}{1!(3-1)!}

step 3

Calculate the probability of picking that specific person by dividing the number of favorable outcomes by the total number of outcomes:

P = \frac{C(3, 1)}{C(4, 2)}

Answer

The probability of 1 person being picked when picking 2 out of 4 people is

\frac{3}{6}

\frac{1}{2}

Key Concept

Combination and probability

Explanation

The probability is calculated by dividing the number of ways to achieve the desired outcome (picking the specific person) by the total number of ways to pick any 2 people out of 4.