Using data from any year or years of your choice in the last

Using data from any year or years of your choice in the last 10 years, determine an empirical value that represents the probability that a randomly chosen newborn baby in the U.S. will be female. Locate the necessary data on the World Wide Web and submit the relevant URLs along with your answer. (NOTE: We want an empirical probability—don’t assume that there is a 50-50 chance of newborns being female.) Then to assist the long-range plans of the advertisment agencies, use your estimated probability value to predict the number of female U.S. births that will occur in 2016 (assume that the total number of births in 2016 is estimated to be around 3,970,000.)

Total Births in 2014: 3988076

1050 males for every 1000 females

Solution

Total number of births in 2014 = 3988076. Given, 1050 males for every 1000 females, i.e. 1000 females in 2050 newborn babies. Therefore, the empirical probabiity is given as 1000/2050 = 0.4878.

Now consider estimated total number of births in 2016 = 3,970,000. The number of female U.S. births that will occur in 2016 = 0.4878 x 3,970,000 = 1,936,585.