Question

A family wants to have 4 children. Design and do a simulation to determine the probability that, if they do have 4 children, they will have two boys and two girls. (Hint: Use coins.)

Answer 1

Let B represent boy and G represent girl, Then sample space

BBBB, BBBG, BBGB, BGBB, GBBB, BBGG, BGBG, GBBG, BGGB, GBGB, GGBB, BGGG, GBGG, GGBG, GGGB, GGGG

Two boys and two girls appeared in 6 situations.

Therefore, P(6 boys and 6 girls) = 6/16 = 3/8

Answer 2

Answer:

a. Use 4 coins. Let heads = girl and tails = boy. Toss each coin and record the results in a table. Coin 1Coin 2Coin3Coin 4Set 1HTHTSet 2HHHHSet 3TTHHSet 4THTTSet 5

Repeat the coin tosses until you have recorded 50 sets of 4 tosses each. b. Count the successful outcomes—those with 2 heads and 2 tails. Coin 1Coin 2Coin3Coin 4SuccessSet 1HTHTxSet 2HHHHSet 3TTHHxSet 4THTTSet 5

c. Write a ratio comparing successful outcomes with total outcomes.