A certain junior class has 1,000 students and a certain senior class has 800 students. Among these

[BTGModeratorVI]

A certain junior class has 1,000 students and a certain senior class has 800 students. Among these students, there are 60 siblings pairs, each consisting of 1 junior and 1 senior. If 1 student is to be selected at random from each class, what is the probability that the 2 students selected at will be a sibling pair?

A. 3/40,000
B. 1/3,600
C. 9/2,000
D. 1/60
E. 1/15

Answer: A
Source: official guide

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

A certain junior class has 1,000 students and a certain senior class has 800 students. Among these students, there are 60 siblings pairs, each consisting of 1 junior and 1 senior. If 1 student is to be selected at random from each class, what is the probability that the 2 students selected at will be a sibling pair?

A. 3/40,000
B. 1/3,600
C. 9/2,000
D. 1/60
E. 1/15

Answer: A
Source: official guide

One option is to apply probability rules.

So, for two siblings to be selected, 2 things must happen: we must select a junior who has a senior sibling AND the senior selected must be the sibling of the selected junior.
We get P(junior with sibling AND selected senior is sibling to selected junior)= P(junior with sibling) x P(selected senior is sibling to selected junior)

P(junior with sibling): there are 1000 juniors and 60 of them have senior siblings. So, P(junior with sibling)=60/1000

P(selected senior is sibling to selected junior): Once the junior has been selected, there is only 1 senior (out of 800 seniors) who is the sibling to the selected junior. So, P(selected senior is sibling to selected junior)= 1/800

So, the probability is (60/1000)x(1/800) = 3/40,000

The answer is A

Cheers,
Brent

[Scott@TargetTestPrep]

A certain junior class has 1,000 students and a certain senior class has 800 students. Among these students, there are 60 siblings pairs, each consisting of 1 junior and 1 senior. If 1 student is to be selected at random from each class, what is the probability that the 2 students selected at will be a sibling pair?

A. 3/40,000
B. 1/3,600
C. 9/2,000
D. 1/60
E. 1/15

Answer: A
Source: official guide

Solution:

The probability of selecting any one sibling from the 60 sibling pairs in the junior class is 60/1,000. Once that person is selected, the probability of selecting his or her sibling from the senior class is 1/800; thus, the probability of a selecting a sibling pair is:

60/1,000 x 1/800 = 3/50 x 1/800 = 3/40,000

Alternatively, the probability of selecting any one sibling from the 60 sibling pairs in the senior class is 60/800. Once that person is selected, the probability of selecting his or her sibling from the junior class is 1/1,000; thus, the probability of a selecting a sibling pair is:

60/800 x 1/1,000 = 3/40 x 1/1000 = 3/40,000

Answer: A