Probability of

Simple and
Compound
Events
Objectives:
After accompanying this module, you must be able to:

1.illustrates events, and union and intersection of events.

2.illustrates the probability of a union of two events.
3.illustrates mutually exclusive events.
4.finds the probability of an event
Any activity that involves chance such as the roll of a die is
an experiment. The result of an experiment is an outcome.
The set of all different outcomes of an experiment is called
a sample space of the experiment. In describing the sample
space of an experiment, you will write out all the possible
outcomes of the experiment. You usually use small letters
to denote outcomes
and the capital letter S to denote the sample space. The
total number of outcomes in a sample space is denoted by
the symbol n(S) read as “n of S.” An event is a set of one
or more outcomes.
Vocabulary:
An experiment is any process or activity, repeated under
the same condition, which generates well-defined
outcomes.
An outcome is a possible result of some experiment or
activity.
A sample space is the set of all possible outcomes of an
experiment. Each outcome in a sample space is called an
element or sample point of the sample space.
Example 1:
Experiment: Tossing a coin once
The sample space for this experiment can be written as
S= {H, T}.
Thus, n(s)= 2

There are only two possible outcomes in the sample space

S.
Note:We use the symbol { } called braces to enclose the
outcomes of an experiment and each outcome within the
braces are seperated by a comma.
Example 2:
A die has six sides. Each side is marked with one through
six dots. So when we roll a die, one of the six sides must
turn up. The turned-up side will be assigned a number
from 1 through 6 according to the number of the dots
showing:
The sample space for this experiment can be written as
S= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
Thus n(S)= 6 because there are six possible different
outcomes.
Example 3:
Two-coin Experiment: Tossing two coins together
The outcome is (H, T)
The outcome means head of the 1 peso coin (H,T), and tail
of the 25¢ coin (h,t). When we toss a 1peso and a 25¢
coin, there are four possible outcome
(h, H), (h, T), (t, H), (t, T)
The sample space for the experiment can be written as
S= {(h, H), (h, T), (t, H), (t, T)}
Then, n(S)=4.
Example 4:
Coin-die Experiment: Throwing a coin and a die together
The outcome is t5. (It means tail on the coin, 5 on the die)
If the coin comes up heads, these are six possible outcomes for the
coin and the die:
H1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6.
If the coin comes up tails, these are the six possible outcome for the
coin and the die:
t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, and t6.
Thus, the sample space for the experiment can be written as
S= {h1, h2, h3, h4,h5, h6, t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6}.
Then, n(S)= 12.
Example 5:
Two-die Experiment: Rolling a pair of dice (one white and
one red die.)
If we follow the rule of listing first the number face up on the red
die and the second on the white one.

Then, n(S) = 36.

 Simple and Compound Events
The sample space of an experiment is a universal set
whose elements are the outcomes of the experiment.
Sometimes, we are only interested in looking at a
particular outcome. For example, if we bet for the
number 6 in a game of dice then we are interested only
in the outcome 6. Or sometimes, we bet for the even
numbers in a game of dice, then we are interested only
in the occurence of the set of outcomes {2, 4, 6} which
is a part of the sample space {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. Any set
of outcomes derived from the sample space is called an
event of the sample space.
We denote a sample space by capital letter S. Similarly, we
will use a capital letter to denote an event. For example, we
could choose the capital letter E to stand for the event {2,
4, 6}. Hence,
E = {2, 4, 6}

Notice that every outcome in E is also an outcome in S.

Thus, event E is a submit of the sample space S. In
symbols,
E ⊂S
Vocabulary:
An event is a subset of the sample space of an experiment.
A simple event consists of exactly one outcome.
A compound event is a combination of two or more simple
events .
The cardinality of a set A is the number of elements in set A
and is denoted by n(A).
Subset – Let E be an event of the sample space S. Since
every outcome in E is an outcome in S, we say that event is
a subset of S, denoted by E ⊂ S.
Example Events:
An event can be just one outcome:
• Getting a Tail when tossing a coin
• Rolling a "5"

An event can include more than one outcome:

• Choosing a "King" from a deck of cards (any of the 4
Kings)
• Rolling an "even number" (2, 4 or 6)
 Union and Intersection of Events
Let A and B be two events from an experiment.

1.The union of these two events, denoted by A ∪ B, is the

event consisting of all sample points belonging to either
A or B.
2.The intersection of these two events, denoted by A ∩ B,
is the event consisting of all sample points belonging to
both A and B.
The union and intersection of events are described by the following
Venn diagrams.

The union and intersection is only defined for events from the same
experiment. For example, if A = {2, 3, 5, 7} and B = {red, yellow,
blue}, then A ∪ B and A ∩ B do not make sense.
Example 6:
In choosing a number from S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9},
let A = { the number is odd} and B = {the number is a
multiple of 3}. Find the union A ∪ B and the intersection A
∩ B.
Solution:
Note that A = { 1,3, 5, 7, 9} and B = { 3, 6, 9}.
Therefore,
A ∪ B = {1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9}
A ∩ B = {3,9}.
Complement of an Event
Let A be an event. The complement of A, denoted by Aᶜ, is the
event consisting of all sample points which are not in A.
Here is a Venn diagram representation of A and its complement Aᶜ.
Give the complement of the events under the given sample space S.

1. S= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}; A= {all odd numbers}, B= {all

prime numbers}.

Answer:
Aᶜ= {2, 4, 6, 8}. Since
A = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}
and B = {2, 3, 5, 7}
 Mutually Exclusive Events
Mutually Exclusive: can't
happen at the same time.

Two events A and B from the same

experiment are said to be mutually
exclusive if A ∩ B = ᴓ; in other
words, they are disjoint.
Examples:
• Turning left and turning right are Mutually Exclusive
(you can't do both at the same time)
• Tossing a coin: Heads and Tails are Mutually Exclusive
• Cards: Kings and Aces are Mutually Exclusive
What is not Mutually Exclusive:
• Turning left and scratching your head can happen at
the same time
• Kings and Hearts, because we can have a King of
Hearts!
Hearts and
Aces and Kings are Kings are
Mutually Exclusive not Mutually
(can't be both) Exclusive
(can be both)
Are the events A and B mutually exclusive or not?
1. A = {prime numbers} and B = {even numbers} where S = N
2. A = {multiple of 2} and B = {multiple of 3} where S = {1, 2, 3,
4, 5}
3. A = {multiple of 2} and B = {multiple of 3} where
S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}
Answer:
1.Since A ∩ B = {2}, then A and B are NOT mutually
exclusive
2.Since A ∩ B = ᴓ, then A and B are mutually exclusive.
3.Since A ∩ B = {6, 12}, then A and B are NOT mutually
exclusive.
The probability P of an event E is the ratio of favorable outcomes of
an event E to the total number of possible outcomes.
Example 7
A playing card is drawn at random from a standard deck of 52
playing cards. Find the probability of the following.
a. A diamond c. A queen
b. A black card d. A red ace
Solution:
Since the card is drawn at random from the standard deck of 52 cards, there
are 52 equally likely outcomes
a. There are 13 diamond card in the deck.
 
13 1
𝑃 ( 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑑 ) = =
52 4
Example 7
A playing card is drawn at random from a standard deck of 52
playing cards. Find the probability of the following.
a. A diamond c. A queen
b. A black card d. A red ace
Solution:
Since the card is drawn at random from the standard deck of 52 cards, there
are 52 equally likely outcomes
b. Half of the cards are black.
 
26 1
𝑃 ( 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑑 )= =
52 2
Example 7
A playing card is drawn at random from a standard deck of 52
playing cards. Find the probability of the following.
a. A diamond c. A queen
b. A black card d. A red ace
Solution:
Since the card is drawn at random from the standard deck of 52 cards, there
are 52 equally likely outcomes
c. There are four queens in the deck
 
4 1
𝑃 ( 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑛 ) = =
52 13
Example 7
A playing card is drawn at random from a standard deck of 52
playing cards. Find the probability of the following.
a. A diamond c. A queen
b. A black card d. A red ace
Solution:
Since the card is drawn at random from the standard deck of 52 cards, there
are 52 equally likely outcomes
a. There are 4 aces in the deck. Two of the aces are red
 
2 1
𝑃 ( 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑒 )= =
52 26
Example 8:
Suppose a regular die will be rolled. Find the probability of getting
the following:
a. an even number.
b. a multiple of 3.
c. an odd number greater than 4
Solutions:
Tossing a regular die would yield 6 possible outcomes: S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.
a. There are even 3 even numbers in the sample space: E = {2, 4,
6}.
 
𝑛(𝐸) 3 1
Then the probability of getting an even 𝑃 ( 𝐸 )= = =
number is
𝑛 ( 𝑆) 6 2
 Thus, this is or 50% chance that an even number would show up when a regular die is
tossed.
 Example 8:
Suppose a regular die will be rolled. Find the probability of getting
the following:
a. an even number.
b. a multiple of 3.
c. an odd number greater than 4
Solutions:
b. There are two multiples of 3 in the sample space M = {3, 6}.
Then the probability of getting a multiple of 3 is
 
𝑛 ( 𝑀 ) 3 1  Thus, there is a chance that a
𝑃 ( 𝑀 )= = = multiple of 3 would show up when a
𝑛 ( 𝑆) 6 2
regular die is tossed.
Example 8:
Suppose a regular die will be rolled. Find the probability of getting
the following:
a. an even number.
b. a multiple of 3.
c. an odd number greater than 4
Solutions:
There is 1 odd number greater than 4 in the sample space: O = {5}.
Then the probability of getting an odd number greater than 4 is
 
𝑛 (𝑂) Thus, there is a a chance that an
1
 
𝑃 ( 𝑂 )= = odd number would show up when a
𝑛 ( 𝑆) 6
regular die is tossed.
Example 9:
What is the probability of choosing a card that is a heart or an
eight from a deck of cards?
Solution:
P(A) = Probability of selecting a heart
 

P(B) = Probability of selecting an eight

 

P(A ∩ B) = Probability of selecting an eight or a heart

 

P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A ∩ B)

 
Example 10:
Two fair dice are rolled. What is the probability of getting a sum less
than 6 or a sum equal to 9?
Solution:
P(A) = probability of obtaining a sum less than 6
 

P(B) = probability of obtaining a sum equal to 9

 

There are no element that are common, so the events are mutually
exclusive.
P(A ∩ B) = 0
P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B)
 
Example 11:
What is the probability that a card drawn at random from a
standard deck of cards is a male face card or a diamond?
Solution:
There are 8 male face cards and 13 diamond cards in a standard deck of
cards. Let F be the event if getting a male face card and D be the event of
getting a diamond.   8 2
The probability of getting a male face card is 𝑃 ( 𝐹 ) = 52 = 13
  13 1
The probability of getting a diamond is 𝑃 ( 𝐷 )= =
52 4
The probability of getting a diamond, male
  2 1
𝑃 ( 𝐹 ∩ 𝐷)= =
face card is 52 26
Therefore, using theorem 6-2, the probability of getting a male
face card or a diamond is
 
𝑃(𝐹 ∪ 𝐷)
  2 1 1
¿ + −
13 4 26
  𝟏𝟗
¿
𝟓𝟐
Example 12:
In class of 40 students, 18 are male and 22 are female. Two-thirds
of the male students and one-half of the female students passed
the final exam. Find the probability that one student chosen at
random passed the exam or is a male.
Solution:
Let A be the event that the student chosen is male, and B be the event that the student
chosen passed the exam. You have the following:
  2 1
𝑛 ( 𝐴 ) =18 , 𝑛 ( 𝐵 ) =
3 ( )
( 18 ) +
2 ( )
( 22 )=12 +11=23
  2
𝑛 ( 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 )=
 
3 ( )
18 =12
18 23 12 𝟐𝟗
𝑃 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 =𝑃 𝐴 + 𝑃 𝐵 − 𝑃 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 =
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) + − =
40 40 40 𝟒𝟎
 Hence, the probability that one student chosen at random passed the exam or is a male is