A box contains 6 nails and 10 nuts. Half of the nails and half of the nuts are rusted. If one item is chosen at random, the probability that it is rusted or is a nail is:
- A$\frac{3}{16}$
- B$\frac{5}{16}$
- C$\frac{11}{16}$
- D$\frac{14}{16}$
- $\frac{11}{16}$
Solution:
If the numbers of nails and nuts are 6 and 10, respectively, then the numbers of rusted nails and rusted nuts are 3 and 5, respectively.
Total number of items = 6 + 10 = 16
Total number of rusted items = 3 + 5 = 8
Total number of ways of drawing one item $=\ ^{16}\text{C}_1$
Let R and N be the events where both the items drawn are rusted items and nails, respectively.
R and N are not mutually exclusive events, because there are 3 rusted nails.
P(either a rusted item or a nail) $= \text{P} \text{(R}\cup\text{N})$
$= \text{P} \text{(R})+\text{P}\text{(N})-\text{P}(\text{R}\cap\text{N})$
$=\frac{\ ^{6}\text{C}_1}{{\ ^{16}\text{C}_1}}+\frac{\ ^{8}\text{C}_1}{{\ ^{16}\text{C}_1}}-\frac{\ ^{3}\text{C}_1}{{\ ^{16}\text{C}_1}}$
$=\frac{6}{16}+\frac{8}{16}-\frac{3}{16}=\frac{11}{16}$