The government wants to impose a new law to detain inmates for a longer period.
27% of prisoners who are released commit another crime 2 years after their release.
Among those who have reoffended 0.41 would have been detained by the new law.whereas 0.31 of those who have not reoffended would have been detained.
What is the probability that a prisoner who would have been detained under the new law does commit a another crime within two years?
Thanks I solved it, Im just trying to make sense of the logic behind it.
If you can explain why you multiply it and not just add (.31 and 0.41) together to get the total size of the people who would be detained.
My understanding is that, the 0.31 and 0.41 are currently independent of eachother. Because you're looking for a joint probability (Of the detained and reoffend) you need to multiply these by their respective probabilities to get the proper proportion.
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cicerone imposter
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Wed 3 Oct, 2012 10:18 am
@Miss L Toad,
Miss Toad, You are correct, of coarse! I was just sloppy thinking on my part.
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