In each issue of Wharton Magazine, we’ll test your knowledge with a question straight from an actual Wharton exam or sent in by one of the School’s esteemed faculty members. Submit the correct answer and you might just walk off with a great prize—a Wharton Executive Education program.
This issue’s Final Exam challenge comes from Dean Foster, Wharton’s Marie and Joseph Malone Professor of Statistics, who sends along a unique challenge—one that, to be honest, left the staff here at the magazine scratching our heads. You see, we work best in words. Not statistics.
The Basics:
Suppose you put the following ten letters—S, T, A, T, I, S, T, I, C and S—in a bag. Suppose you then drew out those letters, one at a time, until every letter had been selected and the bag was empty.
Question: What is the probability that, as you selected the letters, you would correctly spell out the word “STATISTICS?”
Answer: 1 in 50,400
Think you know the answer?
Submit your response at finalexam@whartonmagazine.com or magazine@wharton.upenn.edu by June 1. Professor Foster will post the correct answer on June 4. One winner will be selected to attend, tuition-free, one Executive Education, 3- to 5-day open enrollment program.
Does not include travel, expenses or personal costs incurred; subject to availability and admissions criteria; excludes the Advanced Management Program, Executive Development Program, Essentials of Management, Health Care, Industry-Specific and Global Programs.
