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Problem-Solving and Data Analysis / Probability and conditional probability Difficulty: Medium

Penguin Exhibit
Type of penguin Male Female Total
     Chinstrap   41   59 100
     Emperor     8   27   35
     Gentoo   49   54 103
     Macaroni   42   40   82
     Total 140 180 320

The number of penguins in a zoo exhibit, sorted by gender and type of penguin, is shown in the table above. Which type of penguin has a female population that is the closest to being one-third of the total female penguin population in the exhibit?

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Explanation

Choice A is correct. It is given that there are 180 female penguins in the exhibit. Therefore, one third  of the female penguins is one third times 180, equals 60 penguins. According to the table, there are 59 female chinstrap penguins, 27 female emperor penguins, 54 female gentoo penguins, and 40 female macaroni penguins. So the female chinstrap penguin population is the closest to 60, or one third of the total female population in the exhibit.

Choices B, C, and D are incorrect and may result from reading data from the table incorrectly. Since the total female penguin population is 180, one third of the total female penguin population is 60. The numbers of female emperor (27), female gentoo (54), and female macaroni (40) penguins are not as close to 60 as the number of female chinstrap penguins (59).