Question

A football quarterback enjoys practicing his long passes over 40 yards. He misses the first pass 40% of the time. When he misses on the first pass, he misses the second pass 20% of the time. What is the probability of missing two passes in a row?

Answer 1

ok so the probability for missing the first shot is 40% -- then, the probability for missing the 2nd shot is 20% -- one after the other -- this would give us a conditional probability.

lets say that the prob. for missing the first shot will be \( P(1) \), and the probability for missing the 2nd shot will be \( P(2) \)

\[ P(1 \cap 2) = P(1) \times P(2) \]

Answer 2

lets turn the percentages in decimal form

\( 40\%= \frac{40}{100} \)

\( 12\%= \frac{20}{100} \)

Answer 3

\( 40\%= 0.4 \)

\( 20\%=0.2 \)

thus,
\[ P(1 \cap 2) = 0.4 \times 0.2 \]

do the math, and that would be our answer!