Scribd
Upload
3 views3 pages

Probability

Uploaded by

bhaskaryashu234
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
3 views3 pages

Probability

Uploaded by

bhaskaryashu234
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Probability of Events: A Summary

This document summarizes key probability concepts, including intersections,


conditional probabilities, and independent, mutually exclusive, and dependent
events.

Core Concepts
Intersection (A ∩ B): The probability that both events A and B occur. This
is a key concept in probability and is often needed to calculate conditional
probabilities.

Conditional Probability (P (A|B)): The probability of event A occurring


given that event B has already happened. It updates the likelihood of A based
on the occurrence of B.

P (A ∩ B)
P (A|B) =
P (B)

Event Types and Formulas


Independent Events
Definition: The occurrence of one event does not affect the probability of the
other.

• Intersection: P (A ∩ B) = P (A)P (B)


• Conditional Probability: P (A|B) = P (A) and P (B|A) = P (B)
• Multiple Events: For several independent events, P (A1 ∩A2 ∩· · ·∩An ) =
P (A1 )P (A2 ) . . . P (An )

Mutually Exclusive (Disjoint) Events


Definition: Two events cannot happen at the same time.

• Intersection: P (A ∩ B) = 0
• Union: P (A ∪ B) = P (A) + P (B)

1
• Multiple Events (Union): P (A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An ) = P (A1 ) + P (A2 ) +
· · · + P (An )
• Conditional Probability: If P (B) > 0, then P (A|B) = 0 (if B occurs,
A cannot).

Dependent Events
Definition: The occurrence of one event affects the probability of the other.

• Intersection: P (A ∩ B) = P (A|B)P (B) = P (B|A)P (A)


• Conditional Probability:

P (A ∩ B) P (A ∩ B)
P (A|B) = and P (B|A) =
P (B) P (A)

Inclusion-Exclusion Principle
The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle calculates the probability of the union of two
events:

P (A ∪ B) = P (A) + P (B) − P (A ∩ B)
This formula applies to both dependent and independent events and ensures
that the overlap between A and B is not double-counted.

Examples
Independent Events: Rolling a Die
Imagine rolling a standard six-sided die. Let A be the event of rolling an even
number (2, 4, 6), and B be the event of rolling a number greater than 3 (4, 5,
6).
3 1 3 1 2 1
P (A) = = , P (B) = = , P (A ∩ B) = =
6 2 6 2 6 3
(Rolling a 4 or a 6)
1 1 1 2
P (A ∪ B) = + − =
2 2 3 3
This is the probability of rolling a 2, 4, 5, or 6.

2
Dependent Events: Drawing Cards
Consider drawing two cards from a standard deck without replacement. Let A
be the event that the first card is a heart, and B be the event that the second
card is a heart.
13 1 12
P (A) = = , P (B|A) =
52 4 51
1 12 1
P (A ∩ B) = P (A)P (B|A) = × =
4 51 17
1 1 1 15
P (A ∪ B) = P (A) + P (B) − P (A ∩ B) = + − =
4 4 17 34
This is the probability that at least one card is a heart.

Key Takeaways
• Conditional probability applies to all event types but is especially impor-
tant for dependent events.
• Conditional probabilities update as new information becomes available.

You might also like