McGraw Hill Glencoe Geometry, 2012
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McGraw Hill Glencoe Geometry, 2012 View details
1. Representing Sample Spaces
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Exercise 2 Page 918

The sample space of an experiment is the set of all possible outcomes.

Example Organized List:
lcl J, J & & N, N J, N & & N, J
Example Table:

Outcomes Juice Notebook
Juice J, J J, N
Notebook N, J N, N

Example Tree Diagram:

Tree diagram with two levels of choices labeled 'J' and 'N'. The top of the diagram is labeled 'Outcomes', branching into two options for the first choice and four outcomes for the second choice, creating a sample space of 'J,J', 'J,N', 'N,J', and 'N,N'.
Practice makes perfect

We are given an experiment and want to represent the sample space by making an organized list, a table, and a tree diagram. The sample space of an experiment is the set of all possible outcomes. In this case, the sample space is the result of two stages.

  • First Choice — Juice or Notebook
  • Second Choice — Juice or Notebook
Keep in mind that there are several ways to make a list, a table, and a tree diagram. The part that matters most is that the sample space ends up with all of the possible combinations. We will make all of them one at a time.

Organized List

The two possible outcomes for the first choice are a juice (J) or a notebook (N). There are also two possible outcomes for the second choice, a juice (J) or a notebook (N). We will pair each possible outcome from the first choice with the possible outcomes from the second choice. lcl J, J & & N, N J, N & & N, J

Table

To make the table, we will list the outcomes of the first choice in the left column and the outcomes of the second choice in the top row.

Outcomes Juice Notebook
Juice J, J J, N
Notebook N, J N, N

Tree Diagram

Let's now draw a tree diagram to represent the situation.

tree siagram