Introduction to Probability

and Statistics
Slides 2 – Chapter 2

Ammar M. Sarhan,
[email protected]
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
Dalhousie University
Fall Semester 2008
 Chapter 2

Probability

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 2

 Chapter Goals
After completing this chapter, you should be
able to:
¾Explain three approaches to assessing
probabilities
¾Apply common rules of probability, including
the Addition Rule and the Multiplication Rule
¾Use Bayes’ Theorem for conditional
probabilities

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 3

 Important Terms

• Probability – the chance that an uncertain event

will occur (always between 0 and 1)
• Experiment – a process that produces outcomes
for uncertain events
• Sample Space – the collection of all possible
experimental outcomes
• Event – a subset of sample space.

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 4

 2.1 Sample Spaces and Events
An Experiment: is any action or process whose outcome is subject to
uncertainty.
The sample space of an experiment, denoted S (or Ω), is the set of all
possible outcomes of that experiment.
An event A is a subset of the sample space S. That is A⊆S.
An event

simple compound
if it consists of exactly if it consists of more than
one outcome . one outcome
We say that an event A occurs if the outcome (the result) of the
experiment is an element of A.
• φ⊆S is an event (φ is called the impossible (null) event)
• S⊆S is an event (S is called the sure event)
 Example

Example: Rolling a die

The experiment has 6 possible outcomes.

Sample Space: S ={1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

The following are possible events:

•A ={1, 3, 5} getting an odd number.
•B ={2, 4, 6} getting an even number. compound events
•C ={1,2,3,4} getting a number less than 5.
•E = {1, 3} getting 1 or 3.
•S={1,2,3,4,5,6} getting a number < 10. sure event
•D ={1} getting number 1. simple event
•F = {8}= φ getting number 8. Impossible event

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 6

 Relations from Set Theory
An event is just a set, so relationships and results from elementary set
theory can be used to study events.
1 The union of two events A and B is the event consisting of all
outcomes that are either in A or in B.
Notation: Read: A or B.

A∪B occurs if at least one of A and B occurs.

2 The intersection of two events A and B is the event consisting of all
outcomes that are in both A and B.
Notation: A ∩ B Read: A and B.

A∩B occurs if both A and B occur together.

3 The complement of an event A is the set of all outcomes in S that
are not contained in A.
Notation: A′ Read: not A.
A′ A′ occurs if A does not.
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 7
 Example: Rolling a die.
The sample space: S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
Let A = {1, 2, 3} , B = {1, 3, 5} and C={4, 6}. Then
′
A ∩ B = {1,3} ( A ∩ B ) = {2,4,5,6}
′
A ∪ B = {1,2,3,5} ( A ∪ B ) = {4,6} are equal
A′ = {4,5,6} A′ ∪ B′ = {2,4,5,6}
are equal
B′ = {2,4,6} A′ ∩ B′ = {4,6}
A′ ∩ A = ϕ
Mutually Exclusive
When A and B have no outcomes in common, A ∩ B = ϕ , they
are mutually exclusive or disjoint events.
A∩C =ϕ A and C are mutually exclusive (disjoint) events.
Notice: The two disjoint event do not occur together.
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 8
 Example:
Experiment: Selecting 3 items from manufacturing process; each item is
inspected and classified as defective (D) or non-defective (N).
This experiment has 23 = 8 possible outcomes. The sample space is
S={DDD,DDN,DND,DNN,NDD,NDN,NND,NNN}

Consider the following events: sample space S

A={at least 2 defectives}
= {DDD,DDN,DND,NDD}⊆S
B={at most one defective}
={DNN,NDN,NND,NNN}⊆S
C={3 defectives}={DDD}⊆S
Then:
A∩ B =ϕ A and B are disjoint.
A ∩ C = {DDD} = C A & C are not disjoint.
B ∩C =ϕ B and C are disjoint.
A′ = B
A∪ B = S
B′ = A
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 9
 Venn diagram
S S
A B A B

A∩ B A∪ B
S
A′

S S
A B A B

A and B are not mutually exclusive. A and B are mutually exclusive.

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 10
 2.2 Axioms, Interpretations,
and Properties of Probability
Given an experiment and a sample space S, the objective of probability is
assign to each event A a number P(A), called the probability of the event A,
which will give a precise measure of the chance that A will occur.
Axioms of Probability
Axiom 1 P(A) ≥ 0 for any event A.
Axiom 2 P(S) =1.
Axiom 3 If A1, A2, ...., Ak are disjoint events, then
k
P( A1 ∪ A2 ∪ L ∪ Ak ) = ∑ P( Ai ) finite set
i =1
∞
P( A1 ∪ A2 ∪ L) = ∑ P( Ai ) infinite set
i =1

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 11

 Properties of Probability
1 For any event A, P( A) =1- P(A’).
Proof: Since S = A ∪ A’, then 1= P(S )=P(A ∪ A’)
1= P(S )=P(A)+P( A’) P( A) =1- P(A’).
2 For any event A, P( A) ≤ 1.
Proof: Since 1=P(A) + P(A’) ≥ P(A) since P(A’) ≥ 0.
3 If A and B are mutually exclusive, then P(A ∩ B) = 0.
4 For any two events A and B, P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A∩ B).
Proof: B B B
A = A
∪ A

A∪B = A ∪ A’ ∩ B
P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(A’∩ B), but B = (A∩ B) ∪ (A’∩ B) then
P(B) = P(A∩ B) + P(A’∩ B) P(A’∩ B) = P(B) - P(A∩ B)
P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A∩ B).
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 12
Example: In a certain residential suburb, 60% of all households subscribe to
the metropolitan newspaper published in a nearby city, 80% subscribe to the
local paper, and 50% of the households subscribe to both papers.
If a household is selected at random, what is the probability that it subscribes to
(1) at least one of the two newspapers, (2) exactly one of the two newspapers ?
Solution:
Let A = {subscribes to the metropolitan newspaper} and
B = {subscribes to the local paper}. Then
P(A) = 0.6, P(B) = 0.8 and P(A ∩ B) = 0.5
(1) P(at least one of the two newspapers) = P(A ∪ B)
= P(A) + P(B) - P(A ∩ B) = 0.6 + 0.8 – 0.5 = 0.9
(2) P(exactly one) = P(A ∩ B’) + P(A’ ∩ B)
P(A) = P(A ∩ B’) + P(A ∩ B) P(A ∩ B’) = 0.6 – 0.5 = 0.1
P(B) = P(A’ ∩ B) + P(A ∩ B) P(A’ ∩ B) = 0.8 – 0.5 = 0.3
P(exactly one) = 0.1 + 0.3 = 0.4

A∩B
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 13
 Probability of union of more than two events
For any three events A, B and C,
P(A ∪ B ∪ C) = P(A) + P(B) +P(C) - P(A∩ B) - P(A∩ C)
- P(B∩ C) + P(A∩ B ∩ C).

Important laws will be given in the class

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 14

 Problem 2.13

“Awarded either 1 or 2 or both” OR “awarded at least one”

“Awarded neither 1 nor 2”

“Awarded either 1 or 2 or 3” OR “at least one of them”

“Awarded none of the three projects”

“Awarded # 3 but not # 1 nor # 2”

“either (neither # 1 nor # 2 ) or # 3”

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 15

 Equally Likely Outcomes
If an experiment has N(S)=N equally likely different outcomes, then the
probability of the event A is:
P ( A) =
N ( A)
N
where N(A) denotes the number of outcomes contained in A.
Example: Rolling two fair dice separately.
What is the probability that sum of the two numbers is 7?
Solution: The sample space is S
(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)
N(S)=36
(2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)
Let A = {sum of two numbers = 7}.
(3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)
A = {(1,6), (2,5), (3,4), (4,3), (5,2), (6,1) }. (4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)

N(A) =6 (5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)

(6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)
P ( A) =
6 1
=
36 6

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 16

 2.3 Counting Techniques
There are many counting techniques which can be used to count the number of
points in the sample space (or in some events) without listing each element.
Product Rule
If the first element or object of an ordered pair can be selected in n1 ways,
and for each of these n1 ways the second can be selected in n2 ways, then the
number of pairs is n1n2.
Example: Moving from City A to City C can be made in two steps. First
moving from A to B then from B to C. There are n1=2 ways from A to B and
n2=3 ways from B to C. a1 b1
A B b2 C
Then there are n1×n2=2 × 3 = 6 ways from A to C. a2 b3
These methods can be represented by the b1 (a1, b1)
following pairs: b2 (a1, b2)
a1 b3 (a1, b3)
(a1, b1), (a1, b2), (a1, b3), a2 (a2, b1)
b1
(a2, b1), (a2, b2), (a2, b3) b2 (a2, b2)
b3
(a2, b3)
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 17
 Permutations
Any ordered sequence of k objects taken from a set of n distinct objects
is called a permutation of size k from n objects.

Notation: Pk,n Pk,n =n(n-1) (n-2) ... (n-k+1)

Factorial
For any positive integer m, m! is read “m factorial” and is defined
by m! = m× (m-1) ×(m-2) … ×(2) (1)
Also, 0! = 1.

n!
Pk,n =
(n-k)!

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 18

 Example

Example (2.21): There are 10 teaching assistants available for grading papers
in a Statistics course at a large university. The first exam consists of 4
questions, and the professor wishes to select a different assistant to grade each
question (only one assistant per question).

In how many ways can the assistants be chosen for grading?

Answer:
Here n = group size = 10, and
k = subset size = 4.
The number of permutation is
10! 10!
P4, 10 = = = 10(9)(8)(7) = 5040
(10-4)! 6!
That is, there are 5040 different ways.

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 19

 Example
Example: A boy has 4 beads – red, white, blue, and yellow. How
different ways can three of the beads be strung together in a row?

This is a permutation of size 3 from 4 objects, since the beads will be

in a row (ordered). Then the number is

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 20

 Combinations
Given a set of n distinct objects, any unordered subset of size k of the
objects is called a combination.
⎛n⎞ ⎛n⎞ n!
Notation: ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ or Ck,n , ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = Read: n chose k.
⎝k ⎠ ⎝ k ⎠ k!(n − k )!
⎛n⎞ ⎛n⎞ ⎛n⎞ ⎛n⎞ ⎛ n ⎞
Note: ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = 1, ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = 1 , ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = n, ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝n⎠ ⎝0⎠ ⎝1 ⎠ ⎝k ⎠ ⎝n − k ⎠
⎛n⎞
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = the number of different ways of selecting k objects from n distinct
⎝ k ⎠ objects.

= the number of different ways of dividing n distinct objects into two

subsets; one subset contains k objects and the other contains the rest
(n−k) objects . (Order does not matter)

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 21

Example: A boy has 4 beads – red, white, blue, and yellow. How
different ways can three of the beads be chosen to trade away?

Solution: This is a combination since they are chosen without regard to

order. ⎛ 4⎞
total 4! 4 × 3!
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = = =4 4 different ways
⎝ ⎠
3 3! ( 4 − 3)! 3!1!
number selected
Example: Three balls are randomly selected at the same time (without
replacement) from the jar below. Find the probability that one ball is
red and two are black.
Solution:
⎛8⎞ 8! 8 × 7 × 6 × 5! 8 × 7 × 6
N ( S ) = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = = = = 8× 7
⎝ 3 ⎠ 3!(8 − 3)! 3!5! 3(2)
⎛ 2⎞⎛3 ⎞
Let A={one ball is red and two are black} N ( A) = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = 2 × 3
N ( A) 2 × 3 3 ⎝1 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠
P ( A) = = =
N ( S ) 8 × 7 28
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 22
without replacement

P(A)={one ball is red and two are black}

P(R1 B2 B3∪ B1 R2 B3 ∪ B1 B2 R3 ) =
= P(R1 B2 B3) + P( B1 R2 B3)+ P(B1 B2 R3 )

N (S ) = 8 × 7 × 6

N(A) = N(R1 B2 B3∪ B1 R2 B3 ∪ B1 B2 R3 ) =

= N(R1 B2 B3) + N( B1 R2 B3)+ N(B1 B2 R3 )
=2×3×2+3×2×2+3×2×2
= 3 (2 × 3 × 2) = 3 × 2 (3 × 2)

N ( A) 3 × 2 ( 2 × 3) 2 × 3 3
P ( A) = = = =
N (S ) 8×7×6 8 × 7 28

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 23

Example: A university warehouse has received a shipment of 25
printers, of which 10 are laser printers and 15 are inkjet models.
If 6 of these 25 are selected at random to be checked by a particular
technician, what is the probability that
(1) exactly 3 of these selected are laser printers?
(2) at least 3 inkjet printers are selected?
Solution: Let D3={exactly 3 of the 6 selected are laser printers}.
The experiment is selecting 6 printers from 25 (10 laser and 15 inkjet).
⎛ 25 ⎞ 25! 25!
N = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = = # selecting 6 printers from 25
⎝ 6 ⎠ 6!(25 − 6)! 6! 19!
⎛15 ⎞ ⎛10 ⎞ 15! 10! # selecting 3 printers from 15
N ( D3 ) = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ =
⎝ 3 ⎠ ⎝ 3 ⎠ 3!12! 3!7! and selecting 3 printers from 10
then 15! 10!
N ( D3 ) 3!12! 3!7!
P( D3 ) = = = 0.3083
N 25!
6!19!
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 24
Let Ij = {exactly j of the 6 selected are inkjet printers}, j = 3, 4, 5, 6.
Then I3 = D3 .
(2) P(at least 3 inkjet printers are selected) = P(I3 ∪ I4 ∪ I5 ∪ I6)
= P(I3) + P(I4) + P(I5)+ P(I6)

= P(D3) + P(I4) + P(I5)+ P(I6)

⎛15 ⎞ ⎛ 10 ⎞ 15! 10!

N ( I j ) = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = , j = 3, 4, 5, 6
⎝ j ⎠ ⎝ 6 − j ⎠ j!(15 − j )! (6 − j )!(10 − (6 − j ))!
P(at least 3 inkjet printers are selected) =
⎛15 ⎞ ⎛10 ⎞ ⎛15 ⎞ ⎛10 ⎞ ⎛15 ⎞ ⎛10 ⎞ ⎛15 ⎞ ⎛10 ⎞
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ 3 ⎠⎝ 3 ⎠ ⎝ 4 ⎠⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎝ 5 ⎠⎝ 1 ⎠ ⎝ 6 ⎠⎝ 0 ⎠
= + + + = .8530
⎛ 25 ⎞ ⎛ 25 ⎞ ⎛ 25 ⎞ ⎛ 25 ⎞
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝6 ⎠ ⎝6 ⎠ ⎝6 ⎠ ⎝6 ⎠
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 25
 2.4 Conditional Probability
Example :
Two machines produce the same type of products. Machine A
produces 8, of which 2 are identified as defective. Machine B
produces 10, of which 1 is defective. The sales manager randomly
selected 1 out of these 18 for a demonstration.
1) What's the probability he selected product from machine A.
2) What's the probability that the selected product is defective?
3) What's the probability that the selected product is defective & from A?
4) If the selected product turned to be defective, what's the probability that
this product is from machine A?
Solution :
Condition
1) P(A) = 8/18=0.44 D D’

Machine
2) P(D) = 3/18=1/6 A 2 6 8
B 1 9 10
3) P(A∩D) = 2/18
3 15 18
4) P(A | D) = 2/3=P(A∩D)/P(D)
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 26
 Conditional Probability
Definition:
For any two events A and B with P(B) > 0, the conditional probability
of A given that B has occurred is defined by

From which we have:

or

Multiplication Rule for P(A ∩ B)

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 27

 Example
Suppose we have a fuse box containing 20 fuses of which 5 are defective
(D) and 15 are non-defective (N). If 2 fuses are selected at random and
removed from the box in succession without replacement, what is the
probability that both fuses are defective?
Solution:
Let Dj = {the jth fuse is D}, j = 1,2.

{both fuses are defective} = D1 ∩ D2

First Selection 2nd Selection
given 1st is D.
P{both fuses are defective} = P(D1 ∩ D2) 20 19
= P(D1) P(D2| D1)
But P(D1) = 5/20 and P(D2| D1) = 4/19

P{both fuses are defective}=(5/20) (4/19) = 1/19 = 0.052632

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 28

 Example
Four individuals will donate blood , if only the A+ type blood is
desired and only one of these 4 people actually has this type, without
knowing their blood type in advance, if we select the donors randomly,
what's the probability that at least three individuals must be typed to
obtain the desired type?
Solution:
Let A1 = {first type not A+} and A2 = {second type not A+}.
A1 ∩ A2 = {first type not A+ and second type not A+}
= {at least three must be typed}.
P{at least three must be typed}= P(A1 ∩ A2)
= P(A1) P(A2 | A1)
But
P(A1) = 3/4 and P(A2 | A1) = 2/3

P(A1 ∩ A2) = (3/4) (2/3) = 2/4 = 1/2 = 0.5

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 29
 The Law of Total Probability

If the events A1, A2,…, Ak be mutually exclusive and exhaustive events.

The for any other event B,
S
P ( B ) = P ( B | A1 ) P ( A1 ) + L + P( B | Ak ) P( Ak )
k
A1 A2
= ∑ P( B | Ai ) P( Ai )
i =1
Proof: B
B = (B ∩ A1 ) ∪ L ∪ (B ∩ A1 )
P( B) = P((B ∩ A1 ) ∪ L ∪ (B ∩ A1 ))
Ak
= P(B ∩ A1 ) + L + P(B ∩ A1 )

= P ( B | A1 ) P( A1 ) + L + P( B | Ak ) P( Ak )

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 30

 Bayes’ Theorem

Let A1, A2, …, An be a collection of k mutually exclusive and exhaustive

events with P(Ai) > 0 for i = 1, 2,…,k. Then for any other event B for
which P(B) > 0 given by
P( B | A j ) P( A j )
P( A j | B) = k
, j = 1,2, L , k (1)

Proof:
∑ P( B | A ) P( A )
i =1
i i

We have P( B ∩ A j )
P( A j | B) = , j = 1,2, L , k (2)
P( B)
but
P( B ∩ A j ) = P( B | A j ) P( A j ) (3)
and k
P( B) = ∑ P( B | Ai ) P ( Ai ) (4)
i =1

Substituting (3) and (4) into (2), we get (1).

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 31
 Example:
A store stocks light bulbs from three suppliers. Suppliers A, B, and C
supply 10%, 20% and 70% of the bulbs, respectively. It has been
determined that company A’s bulbs are 1% defective while company
B’s are 3% defective and company C’s are 4% defective. If a bulb is
selected at random and found to be defective, what is the probability
that it came from supplier B?
Solution: Let D = “defective” We need P(B|D) ? A 10%
We have B 20%
P(A) =0.10, P(D|A) = 0.01
C D 70%
P(B) =0.20, P(D|B) = 0.03
P(C) =0.70, P(D|C) = 0.04
P( D | B) P( B)
P( B | D) =
P ( D | A) P ( A) + P ( D | B ) P( B) + P ( D | C ) P (C )
0.03 × 0.2 0.006 6
= = = = 0.171429
0.01× 0.1 + 0.03 × 0.2 + 0.04 × 0.7 0.035 35
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 32
 2.5 Independence

Independent Events

Two events A and B are independent if P(A| B) = P(A).

Otherwise A and B are dependent.

Properties of independence

1 Events A and B are independent P(A∩B) = P(A) P(B)

2 P(B|A)=P(B)
3 If A and B are independent, then :
(1) A' and B (2) A and B' (3) A' and B' are all independent.

Question: A and B are mutually exclusive events, are they independent?

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 33

 Example:
Consider a gas station with six pumps numbered 1,2,...,6 and let Ei
denote simple event that a randomly selected customer uses pump i (i =
1, 2, ...,6). Suppose that P(E1) = P(E6) = 0.10, P(E2) = P(E5) = 0.15, and
P(E3) = P(E4) = 0.25. Define events A, B, C by A={2,4,6}, B={1, 2, 3}
and C={2,3,4,5}. Compute P(A), P(A|B), P(A|C)?
Solution:
P(A) = P(E2∪ E4 ∪ E6) = P(E2) + P(E4)+P(E6) = 0.15+0.25+0.1 = 0.5
P(A∩B) P(E2) 0.15
P(A|B) = = = = 0.3
P(B) P(E1) + P(E2)+P(E3) 0.50
P(A∩C) P(E2)+P(E4) 0.4
P(A|C) = = = = 0.5
P(C) P(E2) + P(E3)+P(E4)+P(E5) 0.8
P(A|B) ≠ P(A) A and B are dependent

P(A|C) = P(C) A and C are independent

Compute P(A’), P(A|B) and P(A|C’)?
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 34
 Independent of more than two events

Events A1, ..., An are mutually independent if for every k (k =2,3,...,n)

and every subset of indices i1,i2,...,ik,

P( Ai1 ∩ Ai2 ∩ L ∩ Aik ) = P( Ai1 ) P( Ai2 ) L P( Aik )

Note: In general

P( Ai1 ∩ Ai2 ∩ L ∩ Aik ) = P( Ai1 ) P ( Ai2 | Ai1 ) P( Ai3 | Ai2 Ai1 ) L

P( Aik | Aik −1 ... Ai2 Ai1 )

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 35

Examples for Section 2.3 : Counting Techniques
• Example1: A house owner doing some remodelling requires the
services of both a plumbing contractor and an electrical contractor;
there are 12 plumbing contractors and 9 electrical contractors, in how
many ways can the contractors be chosen?

• Example 2: A family requires the services of both an obstetrician

and a pediatricion. There are two accessible clinics, each having two
obstetricians and three pediatricions, family needs to select both doctor
in the same clinic, in how many ways this can be done?

• Example3: There are 8 TA's are available, 4 questions need to be

marked. How many ways for Prof. To choose 1 TA for each
question? How many ways if there are 8 questions?

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 36

Example 4: In a box, there are 10 tennis balls labelled number 1 to 10
¾ 1) Randomly choose 4 with replacement
¾ 2) Choose 4 one by one without replacement
¾ 3) grab 4 balls in one time
¾ What is the probability the ball labelled as number 1 is chosen?

Example 5: A rental car service facility has 10 foreign cars and 15

domestic cars waiting to be serviced on a particular Sat. morning.
Mechanics can only work on 6 of them. If 6 were chosen randomly,
what's the probability that 3 are domestic 3 are foreign? What's the
probability that at least 3 domestic cars are chosen?
Example 6: If a permutation of the word “white” is selected at random,
find the probability that the permutation

¾ 1) begins with a consonant.

¾ 2) ends with a vowel.
¾ 3) has the consonant and vowels alternating.
Dr. Ammar Sarhan 37
Example : Consider three identical units. The probability that the
lifetime of each exceeds t0 is 0.9. Find the probability that the life time
of the system consists of these three units exceeds t0 if the system is:
(1) Series (2) Parallel.

1 2 3
(1) Series

(2) Parallel

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 38

Example
An executive on a business trip must rent a car in each of two different
cities. Let A denote the event that the executive is offered a free
upgrade in the first city and represent the analogous event for the
second city.
Suppose that P(A) = .3, P(B) = .4, and that A and B are independent
events.
What is the probability that the executive is offered a free upgrade in
at least one of the two cities?
If the executive is offered a free upgrade in at least one of the
two cities, what is the probability that such an offer was made
only in the first city?
If the executive is not offered a free upgrade in the first city,
what is the probability of not getting a free upgrade in the second
city? Explain your reasoning

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 39

 Dr. Ammar Sarhan

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 40

N(S) = 339 (equally likely outcomes)
Define the following events:
A3 = the selected physician is aged 40 – 49
B2 = the selected smokes occasionally.
A3 ∩ B2 = the selected physician is aged 40 – 49 and smokes occasionally

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 41

Questions: (1) P(B2 | A3) = P(A3 | B2)?
(2) Use the Law of Total Probability to compute P(B2).
(2) Use Bayes’ theorem to compute P(A3 | B2).

Dr. Ammar Sarhan 42