Lesson 1 - Rules of Probability
Lesson 1 - Rules of Probability
MATH 212
ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS
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ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS
Faculty Information:
Getting help
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ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS PAGE
Module 2 Outcomes……………..………………….. 4
Lesson 1 ………..……………………………….. 5
Application 1…………………………………………. 17
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ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS
MODULE OVERVIEW
MODULE OUTCOME
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Learning Outcome:
Introduction
Probability theory is recognized as one of the most interesting and also one of
the most useful areas of mathematics.
Abstraction
1.1 Probability Concepts
When a single coin is tossed, there are two possible outcomes. The coin can
land with its heads side up or its tails side up. The selection of a single card from a
well-mixed standard deck may result in the ace of spades, the five of diamonds, or
any one of the other 50 possibilities. Situations such as these are referred to as chance
experiments.
Before we describe the concepts of probability, the following terms are defined:
Definition 1.1.
A chance experiment is any activity or situation in which there is uncertainty
about which of two or more possible outcomes will result.
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If we are interested only in whether the number is even or odd, the sample
space is simply S2 = {even, odd}.
In some experiments, it is helpful to list the elements of the sample space systematically by
means of a tree diagram.
Example 1. Suppose that three items are selected at random from a box containing
items from a manufacturing process. Each item is inspected and classified defective,
D, or nondefective, N. Show the sample spaces and elements of the sample space by
constructing a tree diagram.
Solution:
The various paths along the branches of the tree give the distinct sample points from
the tree diagram( see Figure 1). Let DDD be the starting path, indicating the
possibility that all three items inspected are defective. As we proceed along the other
paths, we see that the sample space is
S = {DDD, DDN, DND, DNN, NDD, NDN, NND, NNN}.
Sample spaces with a large or infinite number of sample points are best
described by a statement or rule method.
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Definition 1.2
Illustration 5. Let A experiment a even number occurs and B the event that a
number greater than 3 shows. Then the subsets A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {4, 5, 6} are
subsets of the same sample space S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. Note that both A and B
will occur on a given toss if the outcome is an element of the subset {4, 6}, which
is just the intersection of A and B. If either A or B occurring or both A and B
occurs, such an event, called the union of A and B, will occur if the outcome is an
element of the subset {2, 4, 5, 6}.
Example 2.
Definition 1.3.
The intersection of two events A and B, denoted by the symbol A ∩ B, is the
event containing all elements that are common to A an
The union of the two events A and B, denoted by the symbol A∪ B, is the
event containing all the elements that belong to A or B or both.
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A ∩ B = regions 1 and 2,
B ∩ C = regions 1 and 3,
A ∪ C = regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7,
B ∩ A = regions 4 and 7,
A ∩ B ∩ C = region 1,
(A ∪ B) ∩ C = regions 2, 6, and 7, and so forth.
Solution:
Letting S be the sample space, Figure 1.3 show the Venn diagram of the events.
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Definition 1.4
1. A ∩ φ = φ.
2. A ∪ φ = A.
3. A ∩ A = φ.
4. A ∪ A = S.
5. S = φ.
6. φ = S.
7. (A) = A.
8. (A ∩ B) = A ∪ B.
9. (A ∪ B) = A ∩ B.
For example, we may want to know how many different arrangements are possible for
sitting 6 people around a table, or we may ask how many different orders are possible
for drawing 2 lottery tickets from a total of 20. The different arrangements are called
permutations.
Definition 1.5.
A permutation is an arrangement of all or part of a set of objects.
The number of permutations of n objects is n!.
Illustration 5.
The number of permutations of the four letters a, b, c, and d will be 4! = 24.
Illustration 6.
Now consider the number of permutations, in Illustration 1, that are possible by
taking two letters at a time from four. These would be ab, ac, ad, ba, bc, bd, ca,
cb, cd, da, db, and dc. Consider that we have two positions to fill, with n1 = 4
choices for the first and then n2 = 3 choices for the second, for a total of n1 n2
= (4)(3) = 12 permutations.
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Definition 1.6
𝑃𝑟𝑛 𝑛 × (𝑛 ) × (𝑛 2) × … × (𝑛 𝑟+ )
𝑛
𝑃𝑟𝑛
(𝑛 𝑟)
Example 4.
In one year, three awards (leadership, research, and service) will be given to a
class of 25 graduate students in an engineering department. If each student can
receive at most one award, how many possible selections are there?
( )
where n =25 and r = 3 so that
25 ( )
=
Example 5.
In how many ways can 4 boys and 3 girls be seated in a row of 5 chairs?
( )
= = 2,520
If among n objects, n1 are identical, n2 others are identical, still n3 others are
identical, and so on, then the number of distinct permutations of the objects taken all
together is
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Definition 1.7.
The number of permutations of n objects arranged in a circle is (n - 1)!.
Definition 1.8.
The number of ways of partitioning a set of n objects into r cells with n1 elements in
the first cell, n2 elements in the second, and so forth, is
𝒏 𝒏
(𝒏 𝒏 𝒏 𝒏𝒓 )= 𝒏𝟏
𝟏 𝟐 𝟑 𝒏𝟐 𝒏𝒓
where 𝒏𝟏 + 𝒏𝟐 + 𝒏𝒓 = n
Example 6.
In how many ways can 8 people be seated at a round table?
Example 7.
In how many ways can 7 graduate students be assigned to 1 triple and 2 double
hotel rooms during a conference?
P=( )= = 210
2 2
Example 8.
How many different letter arrangements can be made from the letters in the
word CALCULUS?
Solution:
The letters, C, L and U , each appear 2 times, A once , and S once. Using the same
argument in Definition 2.4, letting 2( number times letter C occurs),
2(number of times letter L occurs) 2(number of times U occurs), and and
both equal to 1, for letters A and S occurs once. Then we have
( )= = 5,040
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Another counting problem of interest is the number of subsets of r elements that can
be selected from a set of n elements. Here, order is not important. These are called
combinations.
Definition 1.9.
The number of combinations of 𝑛 distinct objects taken 𝑟 at a time is
𝒏 𝒏
(𝑪 ) 𝒏𝑪𝒓 𝑪(𝒏 𝒓)
𝒓 𝒓 (𝒏 𝒓)
Example 9.
A printed circuit board has eight different locations in which a component can
be placed. If five identical components are to be placed on the board, how many
different designs are possible?
Solution:
Each design is a subset of size five from the eight locations that are to contain the
components. Applying Definition 2.5, the number of possible designs is a
combination 8 distinct objects taken 5 at a time is
= ( )
= ( )
= = 56
Example 10. There are four engineers and three social worker will a committee.
Find the number of committees of three that can be formed consisting of two
engineers and 1 social worker.
Solution:
Let be the number of combinations of 4 engineers take 2 at a time
= be the number of combinations of 3 engineers take 1 at a time
So, =4 = ( )
= = 6 and
=3 = ( )
= = 3 thus the number of committees is found to be
= 6 (3) = 18
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Types of events
There are two types of events you will need to be able to identify and work with:
mutually exclusive events and independent events.
Mutually exclusive events are events that by definition cannot happen together.
For example:
1. When tossing a coin, the events ‘head’ and ‘tail’ are mutually exclusive;
2. When testing a switch ‘operate’ and ‘fail’ are mutually exclusive; and
3. When testing the tensile strength of a piece of wire, ‘hold’ and
‘snap’ are mutually exclusive. In such cases, the probability of both events
occurring together must be zero.
4. Complement Rule: P(A) = 1 – P(A does not occur)
Hence, using the usual set theory notation for events A and B, we may write:
P(A ∩ B) = 0, provided that A and B are mutually exclusive events.
If two events A and B are mutually exclusive then P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B)
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Solution:
Let A is the event {a diamond is selected} and
B is the event {a ten is selected} then,
P(A) = and P(B) = . The intersection event A ∩ B consists of only one member -
the ten of diamonds - which gets counted twice hence P(A ∩ B) =
Therefore P(A ∪ B) = +
Example 12.
A box contains 20 balls, 3 of which are red, 6 are green, 4 are colored blue, 2 are
colored white and 5 are colored yellow. One ball is selected at random. Find the
probabilities of the following events.
(a) the ball is either red or green
(b) the ball is not blue
(c) the ball is either red or white or blue. (Hint: consider the complementary event.)
Solution
Note that a ball has only one color, designated by the letters R, G, B, W, Y .
(a) P(R ∪ G) = P(R) + P(G) = + .
(b) P(B’) = 1 P(B) = 1
(c) The complementary event is G ∪ Y , P(G ∪ Y ) = +
Hence P(R ∪ W ∪ B) = 1 -
Example 13. The diagram shows a simplified circuit in which two independent
components a and b are connected in parallel.
Solution:
The probability that the circuit is functioning is P(A ∪ B). In words: either a or b or
both must be functioning if the circuit is to function.
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𝑃(𝐴 𝐵)
P(B│A) = or equivalently , P(A) > 0
𝑃(𝐴)
P(A∩ B)) = P(B│A) P(A)
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Example 13. A box contains five 10 Ω resistors and ten Ω resistors. The
resistors are all unmarked and are of the same physical size.
.
a. One resistor is picked at random from the box; find the probability
that:
i. It is a 10 Ω resistor.
ii. It is a 30 Ω resistor.
b. At the start, two resistors are selected from the box. Find the
probability that:
i. Both are 10 Ω resistors.
ii. The first is a 10 Ω resistor and the second is a 30 Ω resistor.
iii. Both are 30 Ω resistors
Solution:
a. i.) The box contains 15 resistors, and there is an equally likely chance of any
resistor being selected, then
P(10 Ω) = =
ii) P(30 Ω) =
If the first resistor selected was a 10 Ω one, then when the second resistor is
selected, there are only four 10 Ω resistors left in the box which now contains
4 + 10 = 14 resistors. Hence,
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(iii) As there are ten 30 Ω resistors in the box that contains a total of 15
resistors, and there is an equally likely chance of any resistor being selected,
then
c. Independent Events
If the occurrence of one event A does not affect, nor is affected by, the
occurrence of another event B then we say that A and B are independent events.
Two events are independent if any one of the following equivalent statements
is true:
(1) ( ) ( )
(2) ( ) ( )
(3) ( ) ( ) ( )
Equivalently, ( ) ( ) ( ).
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Bayes’Theorem
Baye’s Theorem: Let A A A . . ., An be a mutually exclusive events whose
union is S. Let B be an event such that P(B) ≠ 0. Then for any of the events
Aj j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n
P(B Aj )P(Aj )
P(Aj |B) = n ;
i= P(B Ai ) P(Ai )
Example 14: Porcelain mugs are shipped from the manufacturing company to a store. The
probability that a mug will be broken, cracked, or in good condition upon arrival is 0.13, 0.20,
and 0.58, respectively. Mugs are shipped from China to other countries. Experience shows
that if a mug is broken, the probability that it is from China is 0.02; if a mug is cracked, the
probability that it is from China is 0.23; and if in good condition, the probability that it is
from China is 0.75. When a shipment of mugs arrives from China, what is the probability
that the mug is cracked?
Solution:
Let C = event that the mug comes from China
= broken; = cracked; = in good condition
p(C) = p(C ) + p(C ) + p(C )
= ( ) ( )+ ( ) ( )+ ( ) ( )
= 0.13(0.02) + 0.20(0.23) + 0.58(0.75) = 0.4836
So , the probability that a particular mug which is known to have come from China is
cracked is
( ) ( )
p( |C) = ( ) = = 0.0951
Application: Exercise #1
2. How many different ways can three red, four yellow, and two blue bulbs be
arranged in a string of Christmas tree lights with nine sockets?
3. New designs for a wastewater treatment tank have proposed three possible
shapes, four possible sizes, three locations for input valves, and four locations
for output valves. How many different product designs are possible?
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4. The following people are in a room: 5 men aged 21 and over, 4 men under 21,
6 women aged 21 and over, and 3 women under 21. One person is chosen at
random. The following events are defined:
A = {the person is aged 21 and over}
B= {the person is below 21}
C = {the person is male}
D = { the person is female}.
Determine the following:
a. P(B ∪ )
b. P( )
Electrical
Yes No
Yes 53 11
Gas No 23 13
a. Find the probability that failure involves gas given that it involves electricity.
b. Find the probability that failure involves electricity given that it involves gas.
Closure
Well done! You have just finished Lesson 1 of this module. Should there
be some parts of the lesson which you need clarification, please ask your tutor during
your face-to-face or on-line interactions.
Now if you are ready, please proceed to Lesson 2 of this module which will
discuss
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References
Peck, R., Olsen, C. and Devore, J.L. (2012): Introduction to Statistics and Data
Analysis(4th edition). Brooks/Cole/Cengage Learning, 20 Channel
Center Street Boston, MA 02210, USA
Walpole, RE, & Myers, RH.(1993). Probability and Statistics for Engineers and (5th
ed.). Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.
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