Name April 15 Puzzle
The RMS Titanic Sinks
On April 15 of the Mystery Year, the British
passenger liner, the RMS Titanic quickly sank after
having struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic at
11:40 PM on April 14. The ship was on its maiden
voyage, from Southampton, UK to New York City.
The largest ship on the seas at the time, of the 1,324
passengers and 899 crew on board, 1,517 died. RMS Titanic
departing Southampton on April 10
Some claimed that the rescue procedures favored those
passengers who were in First or Second class over those who were
in Third Class. We will use probability to analyze how the various classes fared.
Use the clues and information in this table to find the Mystery Year:
Passengers on the Titanic Based on Ticket Designation (excludes the 899 crew members)
Status First Class Second Class Third Class
Source: British Wreck
Survived 199 119 174 Commission’s Inquiry:
Report on the Loss of
Died 130 166 536 the “Titanic.”
1. What is the probability that a randomly 3. What is the probability that a randomly
selected passenger on the Titanic survived, selected passenger on the Titanic survived,
given that the passenger was in Third Class? given that the passenger was in either First or
Write the probability as a decimal rounded to Second Class? Write the probability as a
the nearest hundredth. decimal rounded to the nearest ten-thousandth.
The digit in the ten-thousandths place is
the hundreds digit of the Mystery Year.
The digit in the tenths place is the ones
digit of the Mystery Year. 4. Use this clue as a check on the other clues:
685 of the crew members on the Titanic died.
2. What is the probability that a randomly
Find the probability that a crew member died.
selected passenger on the Titanic was in Third
Class, given that the passenger survived? Write
the probability as a decimal rounded to the The sum of digits in the tenths and
nearest hundredth. Note: This is not the same hundredths places in that probability is
problem as the one posed in Clue 1. the sum of the digits in the Mystery Year.
What is the Mystery Year when the
Titanic sunk?
When the digit in the tenths place is
divided by 3, you will have the tens digit _______ _______ _______ _______
of the Mystery Year. Thousands Hundreds Tens Ones
Math History-Mystery Puzzle: April 15 ©2022 ActiveMath®, Inc.
