Question

In Exercises 13–20, express the indicated degree of likelihood as a probability value between 0 and 1.

Job Applicant Mistakes Based on an Adecco survey of hiring managers who were asked to identify the biggest mistakes that job candidates make during an interview, there is a 50–50 chance that they will identify “inappropriate attire.”

Short answer

The probability of identifying “inappropriate attire” as a mistake is 0.5.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

“Inappropriate attire” is identified as one of the biggest mistakes made by candidates in job interviews.

It is given that there is a 50-50 chance of this being identified as a mistake.

Define probability

Probability is a value that lies in the range of 0 and 1 (both inclusive).

It has the formula

$P\left(E\right)=\frac{\text{Number}\text{of}\text{outcomes}\text{in}\text{favour}\text{of}E}{\text{Total}\text{number}\text{of}\text{outcomes}}$

Calculate the probability 

Let E be the event that “inappropriate attire” is identified as a mistake.

There is a 50-50 chance that event E happens. It meansthe chance of this event is 50 in 100 trials (subjects’ response).

In decimal, the probability value is

$$\begin{gathered} P\left(E\right)=\frac{50}{100} \\ =0.5 \end{gathered}$$

Therefore, the probability of “inappropriate attire” being identified as a mistake is 0.5.