The Statistical Abstract of the United States reported that

The Statistical Abstract of the United States reported that in a recent year there were a total

of 2,347 thousand arrests made for serious crimes. Of these, there were 18 thousand arrests

for murder and non-negligent manslaughter, 31 thousand for forcible rape, 134 thousand for

robbery, 355 thousand for aggravated assault, 357 thousand for burglary, 1,254 thousand for

larceny, 183 thousand for motor vehicle theft, and 15 thousand for arson. If a person arrested

for a serious crime during that year is selected at random, what is the probability that he or she

was arrested for motor vehicle theft?

Solution

Number of people involved in vehicle theft = 183000

Total number of serious crimes =2347000

So, the probability of a person randomly selected to have been arrested for vehicle theft is - 183000/2347000.

So, the required probability is - 0.0779719

Which is approximately equal to - 0.08