I haven’t had a probability class in a while and I’ve lost most of my textbooks after a recent move. I’m trying to confirm a prediction. Let’s say I have a bucket with 1,000,000 balls in it. 940,000 balls have the number 6, 50,000 balls have the number 7, 49,000 balls have the number 8 and 1,000 balls have the number 9. If I extract two balls at a time with an extractor, would the probability of pulling out two 9’s simply be 1,000*1,000 / 1,000,000*1,000,000 or 1 x 10-6 and two sixes be 940,000*940,000 / 1,000,000*1,000,000 or 88.36 %?
I’m trying to apply this to the chemical reaction of a monofunctional chemical to a difunctional chemical (ie a mixture of 94 % 1-bromohexane, 5 % 1-bromoheptane, 4.9 % 1-bromooctane and 0.1 % 1-bromononane reacting with p-xylene – assumption of equal reactivity- how much 1,4-didecylbenzene (the product of p-xylene and bromononane would be obtained?)
Thanks,