Question

example 1
suppose you have a cookie jar containing 5 chocolate chip cookies, 8 snickerdoodles, and 7 oatmeal raisin cookies. (a) if you randomly select one cookie, what is the probability of it being chocolate chip?
the answer is \\( \frac { 5 } { 20 } \\), because there are 5 chocolate chip cookies. but...where does the 20 come from?
o a there are 20 different jars of cookies.
o b there are 20 different kinds of cookies.
o c there are 20 people eating cookies.
o d there are a total of 20 cookies in the jar.

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate total number of cookies

Total number of cookies = \(5 + 8+7=20\)

Step2: Recall probability formula

Probability \(P=\frac{\text{Number of favorable outcomes}}{\text{Total number of outcomes}}\). Here, number of favorable outcomes (chocolate - chip cookies) is \(5\), total number of outcomes (total cookies) is \(20\). So, the denominator \(20\) comes from the total number of cookies in the jar.

Answer:

D. There are a total of 20 cookies in the jar.