Question

Gloria took a survey of high school students to see how many had part-time jobs last summer. The results of the survey are shown in the table. Compare theprobability that a student in the senior class had a part-time job to the probability that a student in the freshman class had a part-time job.

Answer 1

Find the probabilities

$\begin{gathered} f=\frac{25}{39} \\ s=\frac{11}{42} \end{gathered}$

We can make a easy comparison by finding the percentage of the two

$f=\frac{25}{39}\times100=25\div39=0.641025641\times100=64.1025641$$\begin{gathered} 64.1025641 \\ 1\text{ < 5} \\ 64 \end{gathered}$

The percentage that a freshman has a summer job will be 64%

Now the seniors

$s=\frac{11}{42}\times100=11\div42=0.261904762\times100=26.1904762$$\begin{gathered} 26.1904762 \\ 9\text{ < 5} \\ 26.2 \end{gathered}$

26.2% of the seniors have a summer job.

So, the obvious comparison is that "a senior is less likely to have a job then a freshman" or the second option. Since the percentage that a freshman will have a job is much higher then the percentage a senior will have a job.