What is the probability of choosing a particular real number r in interval [0,1]?
by 
nickykat12
ANSWERS: 2
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It depends on what the probability distribution is. You can have a discrete distribution and assign probabilities to numbers, or you can have a continuous distribution with probabilities for intervals. You can have a uniform distribution in which if intervals have the same length have the same probability, or a nonuniform distribution, like a bell curve. The probability of choosing a certain number would depend on the method that you use to choose a number.
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euphotic has given a good answer, but I think you both missed what the teacher is after. By the question, the teacher means to implies a uniform distribution. In that case, with the rest of the information, the probability of picking a real number in a given interval [a,b] is equal to b-a. And in particular, the probability of picking a particular real number, say 0.432, is ZERO. It's still a bad question, because it's an artificial example. You won't come across examples like this in math or physics unless they've been deliberately made up to trip you up.
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