Mark McGwire
During the 1998 Major League Baseball season, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit 70 home runs. Out of these, 34 went to left field, 20 to left center, 13 to center field, 3 to right center, and 0 to right field. (Source: Miklasz, B., et al. Celebrating 70: Mark McGwire’s Historic Season, Sporting News Publishing Co., 1998, p. 179.)


b. What is the probability that a randomly chosen home run went to right field?

Verified step by step guidance

1. Identify the total number of home runs hit by Mark McGwire, which is given as 70.
2. Determine the number of home runs that went to right field. According to the problem, this number is 0.
3. Recall that the probability of an event is calculated as the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the total number of possible outcomes. In this case, the favorable outcomes are home runs to right field.
4. Write the probability formula for a home run going to right field as: \(P(\text{right field}) = \frac{\text{Number of home runs to right field}}{\text{Total number of home runs}}\).
5. Substitute the values into the formula: \(P(\text{right field}) = \frac{0}{70}\), which represents the probability that a randomly chosen home run went to right field.

Key Concepts

Probability

Probability measures the likelihood of an event occurring, expressed as a number between 0 and 1. It is calculated by dividing the number of favorable outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes. In this question, the probability of a home run going to right field is the ratio of home runs to right field over total home runs.

Sample Space

The sample space is the set of all possible outcomes in an experiment. Here, the sample space consists of all 70 home runs hit by Mark McGwire during the season. Understanding the sample space is essential to correctly calculate probabilities.

Event

An event is a specific outcome or a set of outcomes from the sample space. In this problem, the event is a home run going to right field. Identifying the event helps isolate the favorable outcomes needed to compute the probability.