Probability and Tree Diagrams
Carol is one of three female triplets. Carol believes it is unlikely that a mother of triplets would have three girls. She feels that it would be more likely for a mother to have different genders, like two girls and a boy or two boys and a girl, rather than having all three babies be the same gender. After surveying several mothers, she begins to wonder what the theoretical probability is of having three females in one birth. She makes a tree diagram to answer this question. A tree diagram shows all the possible outcomes in a probability situation.
Theoretical probability: the probability that a certain outcome will occur
Go to the following page and click the Play button to begin the interactive about tree diagrams.