High School

A gardener collects pea seeds from his garden to plant the following year. As he opens the pods to get to the seeds, he finds:

- 16 pods have large seeds,
- 9 pods have medium seeds,
- 20 pods have small seeds,
- 5 pods have cracked seeds.

Every pod has 3 seeds inside. If he chose a seed at random, what is the probability that it is a small seed?

1) 16/50
2) 20/50
3) 20/45
4) 20/55

Answer :

The probability of choosing a small seed at random is 20/50. Thus, option 2 is correct.

The probability of an event is calculated by dividing the number of favorable outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes. In this scenario, the number of pods with small seeds is 20, and since each pod contains 3 seeds, the total number of small seeds is 20*3=60. The total number of seeds in all pods is 16*3 + 9*3 + 20*3 + 5*3 = 48 + 27 + 60 + 15 = 150. Therefore, the probability of choosing a small seed at random is 60/150, which simplifies to 20/50.

So, the probability that a randomly chosen seed is a small seed is 20/50. Therefore, option 2 is correct.