Directions: Directions: Select a single answer choice.Q. Of the 700 m...
The probability that neither of the members selected will be a lawyer is equal to the fraction
where the order of selection does not matter.
Since there are 120 members who are lawyers, there must be 700 − 120, or 580 members who are not lawyers. There are 580 ways of selecting a first member who is not a lawyer and 579 ways of selecting a second member who is not a lawyer. Multiplying these two numbers gives the number of ways to select 2 members who are not lawyers. However, in the (580)(579) ways, each group of 2 members who are not lawyers is counted twice. You can see this by considering 2 members, A and B. The 2 members can be chosen in 2 ways: A first, followed by B, and B first, followed by A. To adjust for double counting, you need to divide (580)(579) by 2.
Similarly, the number of ways 2 members can be selected from among the 700 members is (700)(699) divided by 2. Thus, the desired probability is
Since the answer choices are all tenths, you need to approximate the value of this fraction to the nearest tenth. There are several ways to do this approximation. One way is to use your calculator to convert the fraction to a decimal and round the decimal to the nearest tenth.
Another way is to approximate the value of the fraction as follows.
Either way, the answer choice that is closest to the value of the fraction is 0.7. The correct answer is Choice C.