Sign In
| 9 Theory slides |
| 8 Exercises - Grade E - A |
| Each lesson is meant to take 1-2 classroom sessions |
Here are a few recommended readings before getting started with this lesson.
Diego is playing cards using a standard deck.
A or B. Find the probability that the event
A or Boccurs. Round the probability to one decimal place.
Which are the favorable outcomes for the event A or B?
To find the probability of these events, the number of favorable outcomes of each event is divided by the total number of outcomes. Since it is known that there are six possible outcomes for rolling a die, the probabilities can be found by identifying the favorable outcomes for the events.
Event | Favorable Outcomes | Probability |
---|---|---|
A | 1, 2 | 62=31 |
B | 5, 6 | 62=31 |
A diagram can be used to represent the favorable outcomes for the event A or B
— the outcomes that satisfy either A or B.
A or Bis 4. To find the probability that the event
A or Boccurs, the number of favorable outcomes of this event is divided by the number of possible outcomes.
ba=b/2a/2
Calculate quotient
Round to 1 decimal place(s)
A or Bis equal to the sum of the probabilities of the events A and B.
Ramsha took a survey of her school's cinema club members just to get a sense of their taste before she considers joining. She asked 50 members two questions about movie genres: First, do they like classics? And second, do they like romances? The results are displayed in a two-way frequency table.
Likes Classics | Does Not Like Classics | |
---|---|---|
Likes Romances | 8 | 11 |
Does Not Like Romances | 20 | 11 |
What can be done about the value for members that like both classics and romances?
To find the probability that a randomly chosen club member likes classics or romances, it is important to identify the number those who like classics and the number of those who like romances. To do so, a convenient method is to find the marginal frequencies with the aid of a two-way table. The marginal frequencies show the answers of a single question.
Likes Classics | Does Not Like Classics | Total | |
---|---|---|---|
Likes Romances | 8 | 11 | 198+11= |
Does Not Like Romances | 20 | 11 | 3120+11= |
Total | 288+20= | 2211+11= | 50 |
Referencing the table, Ramsha wrote the following data on her notepad.
Rewrite 39 as 28+19−8
Write as a sum of fractions
Substitute values
For two mutually exclusive events A and B, the probability that A or B occur in one trial is the sum of the individual probability of each event.
For example, consider rolling a standard six-sided die. Let A be the event that an even number is rolled and B be the event that a prime number is rolled.
Event | Outcome(s) | Probability |
---|---|---|
Even | 2, 4, 6 | P(A)=63=21 |
Prime | 2, 3, 5 | P(B)=63=21 |
Even and prime | 2 | P(A and B)=61 |
For mutually exclusive events, the Addition Rule of Probability is a postulate.
Therefore, no proof will be given for mutually exclusive events. Now, consider non-mutually exclusive events A and B.
Notation | Meaning |
---|---|
P(A)=a+c | The probability of A happening is a+c. |
P(B)=b+c | The probability of B happening is b+c. |
P(A∪B)=a+b+c | The probability of A happening or B happening is a+b+c. |
Identity Property of Addition
Rewrite 0 as c−c
Commutative Property of Addition
Associative Property of Addition
Substitute values
Consider the following probabilities for events A and B.
Use the formula for the Addition Rule of Probability.
Substitute values
Add and subtract terms
Use the Addition Rule of Probability to answer each question. Write each probability rounded to two decimal places.
As shown in the following diagram, A, B, and C are three overlapping events.
Write an expression for P(A or B or C).
P(A or B or C) = P(A) + P(B) + P(C)−P(A and B) − P(B and C) − P(A and C) + P(A and B and C)
Use a Venn diagram to construct the expression.
Event | Favorable Outcomes | Probability |
---|---|---|
A | 2♣, 4♣, 6♣, 8♣, 10♣, 2♠, 4♠, 6♠, 8♠, 10♠, 2♢, 4♢, 6♢, 8♢, 10♢, 2♡, 4♡, 6♡, 8♡, 10♡ | 5220 |
B | A♣, 2♣, 3♣, 4♣, A♠, 2♠, 3♠, 4♠, A♢, 2♢, 3♢, 4♢, A♡, 2♡, 3♡, 4♡ | 5216 |
C | A♡, 2♡, 3♡, 4♡, 5♡, 6♡, 7♡, 8♡, 9♡, 10♡, J♡, Q♡, K♡ | 5213 |
A and B | 2♣, 4♣, 2♠, 4♠, 2♢, 4♢, 2♡, 4♡ | 528 |
A and C | 2♡, 4♡, 6♡, 8♡, 10♡ | 525 |
B and C | A♡, 2♡, 3♡, 4♡ | 524 |
A and B and C | 2♡, 4♡ | 522 |
Substitute values
Add fractions
ba=b/2a/2
Calculate quotient
Round to 1 decimal place(s)
The following table shows the number of students from a college who attend either the debate, science, drama, or math club.
We want to determine the probability of the compound event P(drama or senior). Notice that there are students in the drama club who are also seniors. Therefore, these are overlapping events. In this case, the Addition Rule of Probability requires using the formula shown below. P(AorB)=P(A)+P(B)-P(A andB) To determine the probabilities we need, we can calculate the marginal frequencies.
With this information we can determine the probability of a student being in the drama club, being a senior, and both being in the drama club and being a senior. P(senior)&=29/100 [1em] P(drama)&=39/100 [1em] P(drama and senior)&=13/100 [1em] Now, let's calculate the probability of a student either being a senior or being in the drama club.
Let's label the events of students needing extra practice with Algebra and Geometry. Event A:&The student needs to &practice Algebra [1em] Event B:& The student needs to &practice Geometry We can calculate the probability of a compound event by using the Addition Rule of Probability. P(AorB)=P(A)+P(B)-P(AandB) We know that 34 students need to practice either Algebra or Geometry. From those, 18 need to practice only Algebra and 20 students need to practice only Geometry. With this information, we can determine P(AorB), P(A), and P(B). P(A)&= 18/50 [1em] P(B)&= 20/50 [1em] P(AorB)&= 34/50 By substituting these probabilities into the previous formula, we can solve for P(AandB).
We have found that the probability of a student needing to practice both Algebra and Geometry is 450. Therefore, 4 of the total 50 students need to practice both Algebra and Geometry.