Chapter 4

3.1

Probability

Basic Concepts of
Probability

You will calculate

marginal probability
conditional probability
probability for independent and dependent events
joint probability
probability for the union of events

Probability Experiments

Experiment Outcomes

A probability experiment is an action through which specific

results (counts, measurements or responses) are obtained.
Example:
Rolling a die and observing the
number that is rolled is a probability
experiment.
The result of a single trial in a probability experiment is
the outcome.

Sample Space

Toss a coin
once
Roll a die once

Head/Tail

S = {H, T}

1,2,3,4,5,6

S= {1,2,3,4,5,6}

Take a test

Pass/Fail

S={P, F}

The set of all possible outcomes for an experiment is the

sample space.
Example:
The sample space when rolling a die has six outcomes.
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
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Tree Diagrams

Tree Diagrams
This figure
summarizes the
possible outcomes for a
true/false question
followed by a multiple
choice question.

A tree diagram is a picture of the

possible outcomes of a procedure,
shown as line segments emanating
from one starting point. These
diagrams are sometimes helpful in
determining the number of possible
outcomes in a sample space, if the
number of possibilities is not too large.

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Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e

Note that there are 10

possible combinations.

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Events

Toss a Coin Twice

Venn diagram

Tree Diagram

An event consists of one or more outcomes and is a subset of

the sample space.
Events are represented
by uppercase letters.

Example:
A die is rolled. Event A is rolling an even number.
A simple event is an event that consists of a single outcome.
Example:
A die is rolled. Event A is rolling an even number.
This is not a simple event because the outcomes of
event A are {2, 4, 6}.

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Larson & Farber, Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 3e

Choose two people to see if they are in

favor of genetic engineering
A)
B)
C)

Both are in favor

At most one is
against
Exactly one is in
favor

Probability

Tree diagram

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Numerical measure of the likelihood that a specific

event will occur
The probability of an event always lies in the range
0 to 1
The sum of the probabilities of all the outcomes = 1

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Classical Probability

Empirical Probability

Classical probability is used when each outcome in a sample

space is equally likely to occur. The classical probability for
event E is given by

Empirical (or statistical) probability is based on observations

obtained from probability experiments. The empirical
frequency of an event E is the relative frequency of event E.
P (E ) Frequency of Event E

P (E )

Number of outcomes in event

.
Total number of outcomes in sample space

Example:
A die is rolled.
Find the probability of Event A: rolling a 5.

f
n

10

Total frequency

Example:
A travel agent determines that in every 50 reservations
she makes, 12 will be for a cruise.
What is the probability that the next reservation she
makes will be for a cruise?

There is one outcome in Event A: {5}

1
P(A) = 0.167
6
Probability of

P(cruise) = 12 0.24
50

Event A.

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Relative Frequency & Probability

Probabilities with Frequency Distributions

Example:
The following frequency distribution represents the ages
of 30 students in a statistics class. What is the
probability that a student is between 26 and 33 years old?

Frequency & Relative Frequency

Distributions for the sample of cars
Car
Good
Lemon

f
490
10
n = 500

Rel Freq
0.98
0.02
= 1.00

P(next car is a lemon)?

Ages

Frequency, f

18 25

13

26 33
34 41

8
4

42 49
50 57

3
2

8
P (age 26 to 33)

30

0.267

f 30
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13

Law of Large Numbers

14

Subjective Probability

As an experiment is repeated over and over, the empirical

probability of an event approaches the theoretical (actual)
probability of the event.

Subjective probability results from intuition, educated

guesses, and estimates.
Example:
A business analyst predicts that the probability of a
certain union going on strike is 0.15.

Example:
Sally flips a coin 20 times and gets 3 heads. The
3
. This is not representative of
empirical probability is
20
the theoretical probability which is 1 . As the number of
2
times Sally tosses the coin increases, the law of large

Range of Probabilities Rule

The probability of an event E is between 0 and 1,
inclusive. That is
0 P(A) 1.

numbers indicates that the empirical probability will get

Impossible
to occur

closer and closer to the theoretical probability.

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15

0.5
Even
chance

Certain
to occur

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Fundamental Counting Principle

3.4

Counting Principles

If one event can occur in m ways and a second event can

occur in n ways, the number of ways the two events can
occur in sequence is m n. This rule can be extended
for any number of events occurring in a sequence.
Example:
A meal consists of a main dish, a side dish, and a dessert.
How many different meals can be selected if there are 4
main dishes, 2 side dishes and 5 desserts available?
# of main
dishes

# of side
dishes

4
2

There are 40 meals available.

# of
desserts

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40

18

Fundamental Counting Principle

Fundamental Counting Principle

Example:
Two coins are flipped. How many different outcomes are
there? List the sample space.

Example:
The access code to a house's security system consists of 5
digits. Each digit can be 0 through 9. How many different
codes are available if
a.) each digit can be repeated?
b.) each digit can only be used once and not repeated?

Start

1st Coin
Tossed

Heads

2 ways to flip the coin

Tails

a.) Because each digit can be repeated, there are 10

choices for each of the 5 digits.
10 10 10 10 10 = 100,000 codes

2nd Coin
Tossed
Heads

Tails

Heads

Tails

2 ways to flip the coin

b.) Because each digit cannot be repeated, there are 10

choices for the first digit, 9 choices left for the second
digit, 8 for the third, 7 for the fourth and 6 for the fifth.
10 9 8 7 6 = 30,240 codes

There are 2 2 = 4 different outcomes: {HH, HT, TH, TT}.

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20

Conditional Probability
3.2

A conditional probability is the probability of an event

occurring, given that another event has already occurred.

Conditional
Probability and the
Multiplication Rule

P (B |A )

Probability of B, given A

Example:
Suppose all 100 employees of a company were asked
whether they are in favor of or against mandatory
overtime.
In Favor

Against

Male

15

45

Female

36

P (Male) = ?

P(MaleA) = ?

P(AMale) = ?

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Independent Events

Conditional Probability
Example:
100 college students were surveyed and asked how many
hours a week they spent studying. The results are in the
table below. Find the probability that a student spends more
than 10 hours studying given that the student is a male.

Male
Female
Total

Less
then 5
11
13
24

5 to 10
22
24
46

More
than 10
16
14
30

Total

Two events are independent if the occurrence of one of the

events does not affect the probability of the other event.
Two events A and B are independent if
P (B |A) = P (B) or if P (A |B) = P (A).
Events that are not independent are dependent.
Example:
Decide if the events are independent or dependent.

49
51
100

Selecting a diamond from a standard deck of

cards (A), putting it back in the deck, and
then selecting a spade from the deck (B).

The sample space consists of the 49 male students. Of

these 49, 16 spend more than 10 hours a week studying.
16
0.327
P (more than 10 hours|male)
49
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The occurrence of A does not

affect the probability of B, so
the events are independent.
23

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Independent v Dependent Events

Example:
100 college students were surveyed and asked how many
hours a week they spent studying. The results are in the
table below. Are male and studying less than 5 hours
independent?

What is the probability that a coin will turn up

heads on the 6th flip after it has turned up tails the
previous 5 times?
What is the probability that a heart will be drawn
from a standard deck of cards and then a club will
be drawn
a) If the cards are drawn with replacement
b) Without replacement?

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Independent or Dependent?

Male
Female
Total

5 to 10
22
24
46

More
than 10
16
14
30

A and B

A and B are
mutually exclusive.

These events cannot happen at the same time, so

the events are mutually exclusive.
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A and B are not

mutually exclusive.

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Complementary Events

Mutually Exclusive Events

The complement of Event E is the set of all outcomes in

the sample space that are not included in event E.
(Denoted E and read E bar or E complement)

Example:
Decide if the two events are mutually exclusive.

Event A: Select a Jack from a deck of cards.

Event B: Select a heart from a deck of cards.

26

Two events, A and B, are mutually exclusive if they

cannot occur at the same time.

Event A: Roll a number less than 3 on a die.

Event B: Roll a 4 on a die.

49
51
100

Mutually Exclusive Events

Example:
Decide if the two events are mutually exclusive.

Total

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Mutually Exclusive Events

Less
then 5
11
13
24

P (E ) + P ( E ) = 1

P (E ) = 1 P ( E )

P ( E ) = 1 P (E )

Example:
In a group of 2000 taxpayers, 400 have been audited by
the IRS at least once. If one taxpayer is randomly
selected from this group, what are the two
complementary events and their probabilities?

9 2
B
3 10
J
J A 7
K 4
5
J
6Q8
J

Because the card can be a Jack and a heart at the

same time, the events are not mutually exclusive.
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Intersection of Events

Multiplication Rule

- Outcomes that are common to both A and B

The probability that two events, A and B will occur in
sequence is
P (A and B) = P (A) P (B |A).
If event A and B are independent, then the rule can be
simplified to P (A and B) = P (A) P (B).

Example:
A die is rolled and two coins are tossed.
Find the probability of rolling a 5, and flipping two tails.
P(A and B and C)

Example:
Two cards are selected, without replacement, from a
deck. Find the probability of selecting a diamond, and
then selecting a spade.

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32

Intersection of Events and Conditional

Probability
P(A and B) = P(A) P(BA)

P( B A)

P( A and B)
P( A)

3.3

joint probability

Union of Events
and
The Addition Rule

conditional probability

Example: A={student is a senior} B = {CS major that is a Sr}

P(A) = 0.20 and P(B) = .03
What is the probability that a student is a CS major given that
the student is a senior?

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The Addition Rule

The Addition Rule

The probability that event A or B will occur is given by

P (A or B) = P (A) + P (B) P (A and B ).
If events A and B are mutually exclusive, then the rule
can be simplified to P (A or B) = P (A) + P (B).

Example:
A card is randomly selected from a deck of cards. Find the
probability that the card is a Jack or the card is a heart.
The events are not mutually exclusive because the
Jack of hearts can occur in both events.

Example:
You roll a die. Find the probability that you roll a number
less than 3 or a 4.

P (select a Jack or select a heart)

The events are mutually exclusive.

= P (Jack) + P (heart) P (Jack of hearts)

P (roll a number less than 3 or roll a 4)

= P (number is less than 3) + P (4)

2 1 3
0.5
6 6 6
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4 13 1

52 52 52
16

52 0.308
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Permutations

The Addition Rule

Example:
100 college students were surveyed and asked how many
hours a week they spent studying. The results are in the
table below. Find the probability that a student spends
between 5 and 10 hours or more than 10 hours studying.
Less
then 5
11
13
24

Male
Female
Total

5 to 10
22
24
46

More
than 10
16
14
30

A permutation is an ordered arrangement of objects. The n

umber of different permutations of n distinct objects is n!.
n factorial

n! = n (n 1) (n 2) (n 3) 3 2 1

Total
49
51
100

The events are mutually exclusive.

P (5 to10 hours or more than 10 hours) = P (5 to10) + P (10)

The number of distinguishable permutations of n objects,

where n1 are one type, n2 are another type, and so on is
n!
, where n1 n2 n3 nk n.
n1 ! n2 ! n3 ! nk !

n! .
n Pr
(n r)!
# taken from
the group

Example:
Jessie wants to plant 10 plants along the sidewalk in her
front yard. She has 3 rose bushes, 4 daffodils, and 3 lilies.
In how many distinguishable ways can the plants be
arranged?

Example:
You are required to read 5 books from a list of 8. In how
many different orders can you do so?

10!
10 9 8 7 6 5 4!

3!4!3!
3!4!3!

8! 8! = 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6720 ways
(8 5)! 3!
3 2 1
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4,200 different ways to arrange the plants

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Combination of n Objects Taken r at a Time

Application of Counting Principles

A combination is a selection of r objects from a group of n

things when order does not matter. The number of
combinations of r objects selected from a group of n objects is

Example:
In a state lottery, you must correctly select 6 numbers (in any order)
out of 44 to win the grand prize.

# in the
collection

Cr

n!
.
(n r)! r !

b.) If you purchase one lottery ticket, what is the

probability of winning the top prize?

Example:
You are required to read 5 books from a list of 8. In how
many different ways can you do so if the order doesnt
matter?
8! = 8 7 6 5!
8C 5 =

a.)

44C 6

44! 7,059,052 combinations

6!38!

b.) There is only one winning ticket, therefore,

1
P (win)
0.00000014
7059052

3!5!

= 56 combinations
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a.) How many ways can 6 numbers be chosen from the 44

numbers?

# taken from
the collection

3!5!

38

Distinguishable Permutations

The number of permutations of n elements taken r at

a time is

Pr 8P5

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Permutation of n Objects Taken r at a Time

7! = 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 = 5040 surveys

46 30
76

0.76
100 100 100

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# in the
group

Example:
How many different surveys are required to cover all
possible question arrangements if there are 7 questions in
a survey?

41

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