Expert: Paul Klarreich - 10/14/2007

Question
I have one more question Paul...I hope you can offer some more direction..

The weight of a bag of landscape mulch is uniformly distributed over the interval from 38.5 t 41.5 pounds.
What is the probability that a bag will weigh between 39 and 40 pounds?

Thanks again,
Eric

Answer
Questioner:   Eric
Category:  Advanced Math
Private:  No
 
Subject:  Me again << not a good subject line.
Question:  I have one more question Paul...I hope you can offer some more direction..

The weight of a bag of landscape mulch is uniformly distributed over the interval from 38.5 t 41.5 pounds.
What is the probability that a bag will weigh between 39 and 40 pounds?

Thanks again,
Eric
.........................................
Hi, Eric,

Unless I am missing something, a uniform distribution means the probability of W being in (a,b), which is a subinterval of  [A,B] is simply  (b - a)/[B - A].  In other words, if the subinterval is 1.0 unit long and the entire distribution is 3.0 units long, the probability is 1/3.

But perhaps it has been too long and I am too old.