Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 1.3 Junior Find the answer Canada

A circular spinner is divided into 4 sections, as shown. The
angles at the centre of the circle in the sections labelled Green and
Blue each measure 9090^\circ.

Figure 0

An arrow is attached to the centre of the spinner. The arrow is spun
once. What is the probability that the arrow lands on either Red or
Yellow?

Pick one

Solution

The total central angle in a circle is 360360^\circ. Since the Green section has an angle at the centre of the circle of 9090^\circ, this section corresponds to $90360=14\$\frac{90^\circ}{360^\circ} = \frac{1}{4} of the circle. This means that when the spinner is spun once, the probability that it lands on the Green section is

Figure for this problem14\frac{1}{4}. Similarly, the probability that the spinner lands on Blue is also

Figure for this problem14\frac{1}{4}. Since the spinner lands on one of the four colours, the probability that the spinner lands on either Red or Yellow is

Figure for this problem1 - 1414=12$.\frac{1}{4} - \frac{1}{4} = \frac{1}{2}\$.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.