A football quarterback enjoys practicing his long passes over 40 yards. He misses the first pass 40% of the time. When he misses

Question

Pavlova-9

12 days ago

12

A football quarterback enjoys practicing his long passes over 40 yards. He misses the first pass 40% of the time. When he misses

on the first pass, he misses the second pass 20% of the time. What is the probability of missing two passes in a row?

Mathematics

2 answers:

AnnZ [9K] · Answer 1 · 2026-03-15T19:04:28+03:00

Response:

8% or 0.08

Detailed explanation:

Chance of missing the initial pass = 40% = 0.40

Chance of missing the subsequent pass = 20% = 0.20

We need to determine the likelihood of missing both passes. Considering the independence of the two passes, the probability of missing both will be:

Chance of missing 1st pass multiplied by Chance of missing 2nd pass

i.e.

Probability of missing both passes consecutively = 0.40 x 0.20 = 0.08 = 8%

Therefore, the likelihood of missing two passes in a row is 8%.

AnnZ [9K] · Answer 2 · 2026-03-15T19:04:33+03:00

Response: 0.08

Detailed step-by-step breakdown:

Let’s define A as the scenario where the quarterback fails to complete the first pass, and B as the scenario in which he fails to complete the second pass.

Thus, the likelihood of him missing the initial pass $P(A)= 0.40$

The likelihood of him missing the subsequent pass $P(B|A)=0.20$

The formula for conditional probability is:-

$P(B|A)=\dfrac{P(B\cap A)}{P(A)}\\\\\Rightarrow\ P(B\cap A)=P(B|A)\cdot P(A)$

$\Rightarrow\ P(B\cap A)=0.20\times0.40=0.08$

Therefore, the probability of failing to complete two passes consecutively is =0.08