To find the probability that a randomly selected person from the population is either divorced or widowed, we'll go through the following steps:
1. Identify the total number of people in the population:
- The total population is given as 257 million.
2. Identify the total number of people who are divorced or widowed:
- According to the table, there are 27 million divorced individuals.
- There are also 17 million widowed individuals.
- Therefore, the total number of people who are either divorced or widowed is [tex]\(27 + 17 = 44\)[/tex] million.
3. Calculate the probability as a simplified fraction:
- The probability [tex]\(P\)[/tex] of selecting a person who is either divorced or widowed is calculated by dividing the number of favorable outcomes (people who are either divorced or widowed) by the total number of outcomes (total population).
- Therefore, [tex]\(P(\text{divorced or widowed}) = \frac{44}{257}\)[/tex].
4. Express the probability as a decimal:
- To convert the fraction to a decimal, we divide the numerator by the denominator.
- Hence, [tex]\(\frac{44}{257} \approx 0.17120622568093385\)[/tex].
Thus, the probability of selecting a randomly chosen person who is either divorced or widowed from this population is [tex]\(P(\text{divorced or widowed}) = \frac{44}{257} \approx 0.1712\)[/tex].
So, as a simplified fraction, the probability is:
[tex]\[ P(\text{divorced or widowed}) = \frac{44}{257} \][/tex]
And as a decimal, the probability is approximately:
[tex]\[ 0.1712 \][/tex]
