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A blue taxi II (Posted on 2013-03-08) Difficulty: 3 of 5
There are n taxi firms in Carborough (n > 1), each one using a different color for its taxis.

A crime has occured in Carborough, involving a taxi. The police interviewed an eyewitness, who stated that the taxi involved was blue.

They also know that statistically witnesses in these situations tend to be correct 80% of the time - which means they report things wrong the other 20% of the time. In other words, faced with a blue taxi 20% of witnesses say it is some other color, chosen at random from the remaining n - 1 possible choices. Also, faced with a non-blue taxi, the 80-20 rule is still applicable.

If 85% of the taxis in Carborough are blue, determine the probability (in terms of n) that the taxi involved in the crime was actually blue.

  Submitted by K Sengupta    
Rating: 5.0000 (1 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
The required probability is:
     17                 68(n-1)
------------------ =   ----------
17 + 75/(100(n-1)       68n-65
For an explanation, refer to the solution submitted by Charlie in this location.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
re Chrlarlie's commentDan Rosen2013-03-13 09:40:58
re: Solution- independent of nCharlie2013-03-13 08:37:16
Solution- independent of nDan Rosen2013-03-13 08:02:48
SolutionsolutionCharlie2013-03-08 13:21:39
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