It is known that about 30 of human twins are identical and t
It is known that about 30% of human twins are identical and the rest are fraternal.
Identical twins are necessarily the same sex | half are females and the other half are males.
Furthermore, one-quarter of fraternal twins are both male, one-quarter are both female,
and one-half are mixed (one male and one female).
(a). What is the probability that the randomly selected twins are twin boys?
(b). Given that a couple has just become the parents of twin girls, what is the probability
the twins are identical?
Solution
Let
I = identical
F = fraternal
BB = both boys
BG = mixed
GG = both girls
a)
P(BB) = P(I) P(BB|I) + P(F) P(BB|F)
= 0.30*0.5 + (1-0.30)*0.25
= 0.325 [ANSWER]
****************
b)
P(I|GG) = P(I) P(GG|I) / P(GG)
As
P(GG) = P(I) P(GG|I) + P(F) P(GG|F) = 0.30*0.5 + (1-0.30)*0.25 = 0.325
Then
P(I|GG) = P(I) P(GG|I) / P(GG)
= 0.30*0.50/0.325
= 0.461538462 [ANSWER]
