blahblah99
Platinum Member
- Oct 10, 2000
- 2,689
- 0
- 0
Originally posted by: Nathelion
I thought I should jump on the bandwagon and provide some additional amusement for those of us who enjoy the math threads. This thread is more fun than business, I already know the answer to the problem in question, so don't feel compelled to post just to be nice/help out.
For the purposes of this discussion, there is always a 50% chance that a woman giving birth will have a boy and a 50% chance of her having a girl (this is not true in reality).
Imagine that you are going to a party. You arrive, and a man and two boys greet you. The man says "These two boys are my sons, but I have three children. The third child is in the back yard playing." You can't see the back yard from where you are standing. You have no prior knowledge of this man's family.
What is the probability that the child playing in the back yard is a girl?
The answer is 50%. The first two event has nothing to do with the third event since each event is independent of the other.
It's one of the most basic laws you learn in probability class.