There are 10 yellow buttons and 6 blue buttons in a bag. One button is selected at random. What is the probability of NOT selecting a blue button?
- 10 yellow buttons
- 6 blue buttons
Choose the best answer.
Note
For a “not” event, count the outcomes outside the named event. This is the complement of the event.
- The complement of selecting blue is selecting any other color.
- There are 10 non-blue buttons out of 16 total buttons.
- So the probability is 10/16 = 5/8.
- A complement probability can also be found by doing 1 minus the probability of the event.
The correct answer is 5/8. This matches the calculation or definition, so students should focus on the reasoning rather than only memorizing the final value.