Problem

A certain insecticide kills $70 \%$ of all insects in laboratory experiments. A sample of 10 insects is exposed to the insecticide in a particular experiment. What is the probability that exactly 3 insects will die? Round your answer to four decimal places.
Answer
How to enter your answer (opens in new window)
Tables
Keypad
Keyboard Shortcuts

Answer

Expert–verified
Hide Steps
Answer

Final Answer: The probability that exactly 3 insects will die is \(\boxed{0.009}\).

Steps

Step 1 :This problem can be solved using the binomial distribution formula. The binomial distribution is used when there are exactly two mutually exclusive outcomes of a trial, often referred to as 'success' and 'failure'. In this case, the 'success' is an insect dying.

Step 2 :The formula for the probability mass function of a binomial distribution is: \(P(X=k) = C(n, k) * (p^k) * ((1-p)^(n-k))\), where \(P(X=k)\) is the probability of k successes, \(C(n, k)\) is the number of combinations of n items taken k at a time, p is the probability of success, n is the number of trials, and k is the number of successes.

Step 3 :In this problem, the number of trials (n) is 10, the number of successes (k) we are interested in is 3, and the probability of success (p) is 0.7.

Step 4 :First, we calculate the number of combinations of 10 items taken 3 at a time, which is 120.

Step 5 :Next, we substitute these values into the formula to find the probability: \(P(X=3) = C(10, 3) * (0.7^3) * ((1-0.7)^(10-3))\).

Step 6 :Calculating this gives a probability of 0.009.

Step 7 :Final Answer: The probability that exactly 3 insects will die is \(\boxed{0.009}\).

link_gpt