Question

Interpreting Weather While this exercise was being created, Weather.com indicated that there was a 60% chance of rain for the author’s home region. Based on that report, which of the following is the most reasonable interpretation?

a. 60% of the author’s region will get rain today.

b. In the author’s region, it will rain for 60% of the day.

c. There is a 0.60 probability that it will rain somewhere in the author’s region at some point during the day.

Short answer

Part (c) is the correct interpretation.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

It is given that there is a 60% chance of rain in the author’s home region.

Define the term probability

Theprobability of an eventis the value that explains how likely the event can occur. The measured value is between 0 and 1.

Choose the correct option and state the reason

It is given that there is a 60% chance of rain for the author’s region.

The author’s region is an area where the author lives. It may rain at a specific time of the day and in a particular area (if not the entire region).

In simple words, it means that considering any time of the day, the probability that it might rain is equal to 0.6.

Thus, option (c) is correct.

Explanation of wrong options

(a)

60% chance of rain for a region does not reflect that 60% of the region will receive rainfall. It represents the odds of receiving rainfall any time of the day.

Thus, option (a) is incorrect.

(b)

The given value does not indicate that it will rain for 60% of the day; instead, it means there is a 60% chance it might rain that for any given time of the day. Thus, option (b) is incorrect.