A teacher claims that there is a 50% chance that she will collect homework for a grade on any given day.
One week, she collected all five daily homework
assignments. A student in this class is upset and
explains that the teacher should not collect any
homework assignments the following week in order to
honor her 50% probability claim.
Is the student's reasoning correct?
Yes, the teacher should not collect homework
assignments next week to bring the probability of
homework being collected back to 0.5.
No, if the teacher collects homework five days in a
row, it is not possible for the probability of homework
being collected to be 0.5.
Yes, it is unlikely that the teacher would randomly
collect homework assignments five days in a row, so
not having a homework collection next week is due
to happen.
O No, collecting homework and not collecting
homework are equally likely in the long run, so
whether or not the teacher collects homework on any
single day cannot be determined.