f it is equally likely for a paintball to hit any spot on the practice wall, what is the probability that it will shoot a paintball into section 4?
there are four sections ,3 and 4 on the bottom are bigger though so thats what confuses me
but it says equally likely so my guess is 1/4

Question

f it is equally likely for a paintball to hit any spot on the practice wall, what is the probability that it will shoot a paintball into section 4?
there are four sections ,3 and 4 on the bottom are bigger though so thats what confuses me
but it says equally likely so my guess is 1/4

anonymous · Answer

cant really do this with out the picture. can you up load it? 
the answer will be the ratio of the area of section 4 to the total area

anonymous · Answer

|dw:1337741202813:dw|

anonymous · Answer

damn a geometry problem
it is definitely not $\frac{1}{4}$ but we need another piece of information, a measurement of some kind, like how high up is the line through the triangle?

anonymous · Answer

The height of each individual numbered section is 38 inches.

anonymous · Answer

hold on

anonymous · Answer

you got answers now here http://openstudy.com/study#/updates/4fbc518de4b0556534315e72

anonymous · Answer

i got 3/8

zarkon · Answer

I got 3/8 too

anonymous · Answer

my geometry sucks
why is it $\frac{3}{8}$ ?

zarkon · Answer

|dw:1337742622005:dw|

area of (1) and (2) is $\frac{1}{2}xa$ each

area of (3) and (4) is $\frac{1}{2}2x2a-\frac{1}{2}xa=\frac{3}{2}xa$