7B In-Class Activity

Question 1

1) Do you get an annual flu vaccine? Do you think available vaccines are definitely safe? Probably safe? Probably unsafe? Or definitely unsafe? Explain.


Credit: iStock/FatCamera

Question 2

2) In May 2021, SurveyUSA interviewed 750 California adults and asked a number of vaccine-related questions. The survey respondents were considered representative of California adults. One of the questions asked was: “Based on what you know, are the currently available Coronavirus vaccines definitely safe? Probably safe? Probably unsafe? Or definitely unsafe?”
The results are reported in the following table:

What is your political party affiliation?

Republican Democrat Independent None Total
Based on

what you

know, are the  currently

available

Coronavirus  vaccines…

Definitely Safe 61 149 49 19 278
Probably Safe 61 142 62 28 293
Probably

Unsafe

25 14 26 18 83
Definitely

Unsafe

16 17 10 2 45
Not Sure 17 16 18 0 51
Total 180 338 165 67 750
  1. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult believes that the Coronavirus vaccine is definitely safe? Round to the nearest thousandth.
  2. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult’s political party affiliation is Republican? Round to the nearest thousandth.
  3. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult does not believe that the Coronavirus vaccine is definitely safe? Round to the nearest thousandth.
  4. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult believes that the Coronavirus vaccine is definitely safe AND their political party affiliation is Republican? Round to the nearest thousandth.
  5. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult believes that the Coronavirus vaccine is definitely safe OR probably safe? Highlight the individual cells in the table that satisfy this condition.
  6. Are the two events in Part E mutually exclusive?
  7. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult believes that the Coronavirus vaccine is definitely safe OR their political party affiliation is Republican? Highlight the individual cells in the table that satisfy this condition. Round to the nearest thousandth.
  8. Are the two events in Part G mutually exclusive?
  9. Suppose your classmate computes the probability that a randomly selected California adult believes that the Coronavirus vaccine is definitely safe OR their political party affiliation is Republican. The following is their work:
    [latex]P(definitely safe) + P(Republican) = 278/750 + 180/750 = 458/750 = 0.6106[/latex]
    What is the flaw in their reasoning?
  10. Fill in the probability property:
    For any two events, A and B, [latex]P(A OR B) = ______ + ________ - _________[/latex]
  11. Explain why this property holds for mutually-exclusive events.

Question 3

SurveyUSA also asked: “Have you been vaccinated for the Coronavirus?” The results are reported in the following table:

What is your political party affiliation?

Republican Democrat Independent None Total
Have you been  vaccinated for  the

Coronavirus?

Yes 104 247 91 36 465
No 75 91 73 30 278
Not

Sure

1 0 1 1 7
Total 180 338 165 67 750
  1. Which is more likely—the probability of a randomly selected California adult being a vaccinated Republican or a vaccinated Democrat? Explain.
  2. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult is vaccinated? Round to the nearest hundredth.
  3. What is the probability that a randomly selected California adult is vaccinated OR their political party affiliation is Democratic? Round to the nearest
    thousandth.