The two-way table shows the number of books of each type in Eliza's home.

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline & Fiction & Biographies & Reference & Total \\
\hline Hardcover & 28 & 2 & 10 & 40 \\
\hline Paperback & 4 & 1 & 15 & 20 \\
\hline Total & 32 & 3 & 25 & 60 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

What is the probability that a randomly selected reference book is hardcover?

A. 0.25
B. 0.4
C. 0.6
D. 0.75



Answer :

To find the probability that a randomly selected reference book is hardcover, follow these steps:

1. Identify the number of hardcover reference books:
- According to the table, there are 10 hardcover reference books.

2. Identify the total number of reference books:
- The table indicates that there are a total of 25 reference books.

3. Calculate the probability:
- Probability is calculated by dividing the number of hardcover reference books by the total number of reference books:
[tex]\[ \text{Probability} = \frac{\text{Number of Hardcover Reference Books}}{\text{Total Number of Reference Books}} \][/tex]

4. Substitute the values:
[tex]\[ \text{Probability} = \frac{10}{25} \][/tex]

5. Simplify the fraction (if needed):
[tex]\[ \frac{10}{25} = 0.4 \][/tex]

Thus, the probability that a randomly selected reference book is hardcover is:
[tex]\[ 0.4 \][/tex]

Therefore, the correct answer is:

0.4