According to IRS approximately 80% of taxpayer filed electronically in 2012. For 15 randomly selected 2012 taxpayer answer the following:

Find the probability that 7 or 8 them filed electronically
in Statistics Answers by

Your answer

Your name to display (optional):
Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.
Anti-spam verification:
To avoid this verification in future, please log in or register.

1 Answer

The probability that one taxpayer filed is 4/5 and the probability that the taxpayer didn't file is 1/5. Obviously a taxpayer must do one or the other and the probability of either/or is a certainty=1. Using the binomial expansion of (a+b)^n, we can put a=4/5 and b=1/5 and n=15. The probability that a taxpayer either filed or didn't file is (a+b), which is always 1. The binomial expansion adds together as a series all the various combinations of probabilities and the general term, r, is given by (n(n-1)(n-2)...(n-r+1)a^(n-r+1)b^(r-1))/(1*2*3*...*r), which can be written (nCr)a^(n-r+1)b^(r-1), using the symbol for combination. 15C7 and 15C8 have the same value of 6435. So the probability of 7 or 8 filing is 6435(0.8^8*0.2^7 + 0.8^7*0.2^8)=6435*(0.8*0.2)^7=0.0173 approx or 1.73%.

by Top Rated User (1.2m points)

Related questions

1 answer
1 answer
Welcome to MathHomeworkAnswers.org, where students, teachers and math enthusiasts can ask and answer any math question. Get help and answers to any math problem including algebra, trigonometry, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, fractions, solving expression, simplifying expressions and more. Get answers to math questions. Help is always 100% free!
87,516 questions
100,279 answers
2,420 comments
732,183 users