One hundred people line up to board an airplane that can accommodate 100 passengers. Each has a boarding pass with assigned seat. However, the first passenger to board has misplaced his boarding pass and is assigned a seat at random. After that, each person takes the assigned seat. What is the probability that the last person to board gets his assigned seat unoccupied?

Maui1opj

Maui1opj

Answered question

2023-03-23

One hundred people line up to board an airplane that can accommodate 100 passengers. Each has a boarding pass with assigned seat. However, the first passenger to board has misplaced his boarding pass and is assigned a seat at random. After that, each person takes the assigned seat. What is the probability that the last person to board gets his assigned seat unoccupied?
A) 1
B) 0.33
C) 0.6
D) 0.5

Answer & Explanation

Lena Navarro

Lena Navarro

Beginner2023-03-24Added 9 answers

Following the first passenger, neither of the passengers expresses a preference for the last passenger's seat nor the first passenger's seat.
When all of the passengers except the last one have taken their seats, the first passenger will be sitting in either his or the last person's seat.
Thus, the probability that the last person to board gets his assigned seat unoccupied is 1 2 = 0.5
Hence, 0.5.

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