Answer to Question #68743 in Statistics and Probability for Christopher Mitrelis

Question

3. The FBI database IAFIS holds records of over 51 million criminal 10-print fingerprint records, each of them theoretically unique. When analyzing fingerprints, there are specific points on each fingerprint that are utilized to distinguish and identify a fingerprint with a database match. Commonly 10 to 12 matching points are used to affect a match, but there is no standard rule to this.
On average per month, a particular laboratory uses 15 points to identify and match a fingerprint from a crime scene with a suspect in the database. Calculate the following probabilities:
a. The probability of a successful match in a given month with 6 points of identification.
b. The probability of a successful match in a given month with either 12 or 17 points of identification.