A box contains 5 red and 7 white balls. What is the probability of drawing a red ball?

To determine the probability of drawing a red ball from the box, you need to consider the total number of balls and the number of favorable outcomes. In this scenario, the box contains a total of 12 balls (5 red and 7 white). The number of favorable outcomes, which is the number of red balls, is 5.

The probability of an event is calculated using the formula:

[ \text{Probability} = \frac{\text{Number of favorable outcomes}}{\text{Total number of outcomes}} ]

In this case, the probability of drawing a red ball would be:

[ \text{Probability of red ball} = \frac{5}{12} ]

This calculation tells you that out of the total 12 balls, 5 of them are red, so when you draw one ball from the set, your likelihood of picking a red one is 5 out of 12.

Since both the first and last options presented are identical, they both correctly represent the probability of drawing a red ball from the box. The other choices do not reflect the correct ratio of favorable outcomes to total outcomes, focusing instead mistakenly on different numbers not relevant to the red ball counts.