James and Calie are a married couple.
They have two children, one of the child is a boy. Assume that the probability of each gender is 1/2.
What is the probability that the other child is also a boy?
Answer : 1/3
Solution :
This is a famous question in understanding conditional probability, which simply means that given some information you might be able to get a better estimate.
The following are possible combinations of two children that form a sample space in any earthly family:
Boy – Girl
Girl – Boy
Boy – Boy
Girl – Girl
Since we know one of the children is a boy, we will drop the girl-girl possibility from the sample space.
This leaves only three possibilities, one of which is two boys. Hence the probability is 1/3.