Since the early 1900s, the state of Florida has exceeded $450 million in damages due to destructive hurricanes. Consequently, the value of property insured against windstorm damage in Florida is the highest in the nation. Researchers at Florida State University conducted a comprehensive analysis of damages caused by Florida hurricanes and published the results in Southeastern Geographer (Summer 2009). Part of their analysis included estimating the likelihood that a hurricane develops from a tropical storm based on the sequence number of the tropical storm within a season. The researchers discovered that of the 67 Florida hurricanes since 1900, 11 developed from the fifth tropical storm of the season (the sequence with the highest frequency). Also, only 5 hurricanes developed from a tropical storm with a sequence number of 12 or greater.
a. Estimate the probability that a Florida hurricane develops from the fifth tropical storm of the season.
b. Estimate the probability that a Florida hurricane develops before the 12th tropical storm of the season.