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Concepts of Probability

The document introduces concepts of probability. It defines key terms like random experiment, outcome, sample space, and event. It states that the probability of an event is a measure of its likelihood of occurrence and is denoted by P(E). Several examples are provided to demonstrate calculating probabilities of different events occurring based on the number of favorable outcomes out of the total possible outcomes.

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Kenjie Mariano Jimenez
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28 views

Concepts of Probability

The document introduces concepts of probability. It defines key terms like random experiment, outcome, sample space, and event. It states that the probability of an event is a measure of its likelihood of occurrence and is denoted by P(E). Several examples are provided to demonstrate calculating probabilities of different events occurring based on the number of favorable outcomes out of the total possible outcomes.

Uploaded by

Kenjie Mariano Jimenez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Concepts of

Probability
Concepts of Probability
In our daily life, some things will happen with
certainty, and some will not. On the other hand,
there are some situations where the results will
not be sure until they occur. For example,
before a basketball tournament between two
teams A and B, we can only guess that the
chance of winning for team A is high, 50 to 50,
very unlikely, etc. However, we can only know
the exact result after the tournament.
Concepts of Probability
In order to master the pattern of uncertainty of
things in nature and in our daily life, a branch of
mathematics, called probability, was developed.
Let us introduce the basic idea.
1. In tossing a coin, the result or outcome may be a
“head” or “tail” as shown below.

Head Tails
Concepts of Probability
2. Throwing a fair 6-face die, the outcome (that is, the
number shown on the upper side) can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and
6.
Concepts of Probability
Random experiment - is a process in which the
result cannot be predicted with certainty.
Outcome - is the possible result of an experiment.
Sample space - is a set of all possible outcomes.
If each outcome has the same chance of
occurrence, we say that the outcomes are equally
likely.
Event - is a collection of outcomes.
Concepts of Probability
The probability of an event E is a measure of its likelihood
of occurrence. It is denoted by P(E) as follows:
In a random experiment with equally likely outcomes, the
probability of an event E is
Concepts of Probability
Example 1: In throwing a fair die, find the
probability of getting
a. a ‘3’
b. an even number
c. a number greater than 4
Concepts of Probability
Solution:
a. The possible outcomes are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Therefore, there are 6 possible outcomes.
The event of getting a ‘3’ only exist of the outcome 3.
Therefore,
P (getting a ‘3’) =
Concepts of Probability
b. The event of getting an even number consists of the
outcomes 2, 4, 6. Therefore
P (getting an even number) =

c. The event of getting a number greater than 4 consists of


the outcomes 5 and 6. Therefore,
P (getting a number greater than 4) =
Concepts of Probability
Example 2: A card is drawn at random from
a pack of 52 playing cards. Find the
probability that the card drawn is
a. an Ace
b. a red card
c. a ‘12’
Concepts of Probability
Solution:
A pack of 52 playing cards consists of 4 suits: Spade,
Heart, Club, and Diamonds. Each suit has 13 cards: Ace,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King.
a. There are 4 aces. Therefore,
P (drawn an ace) =
Concepts of Probability
b. The red cards include 13 hearts and 13 diamonds. That
means there is a total of 26 red cards. Therefore,
P (drawn a red card) =

c. None of the cards is labeled with ‘12’. Therefore,


P (drawn a ‘12’) =
Note: when the probability of an event is 0, the event is
called an impossible event. That means it will never
happen.
Concepts of Probability
Example 3: A call center operator selects a
telephone number randomly. Find the probability
that
a. the number is a multiple of 5,
b. the last digit of the number is less than 3,
c. the number has more than 2 digits.
Concepts of Probability
Solution:

a. The last digit of a telephone number has 10 possible


outcomes:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
The telephone number is a multiple of 5 if its last digit is
0 or 5. Therefore,
P (the number is a multiple of 5) =
Concepts of Probability
b. For the event “the digit of the number is less than 3”,
the favorable outcomes are 0, 1, and 2. Therefore,
P (the last digit is less than 3) =

c. A telephone number usually has 7 digits. The number


with the least number of digits is the emergency number
999 or 112. Thus, all telephone numbers must have more
than 2 digits. Therefore,
P (the number has more than 2 digits) =
Concepts of Probability
Example 4: There are 2 red balls, 3 yellow balls, and 4
green balls in a bag. If a ball is drawn at random from the
bag, find the probability that the ball is
a. red, b. yellow, c. blue.
Solution:
The balls may be marked as shown below, in which R, Y,
and G denote the colors of the balls red, yellow, and green,
respectively.
R1 R2 Y1 Y2 Y3 G1 G2 G3 G4
Concepts of Probability
a. The total number of balls = 2 + 3 + 4 = 9
There are 2 red balls out of 9 balls. Therefore,
P (red ball) =
b. There are 3 yellow balls out of 9 balls. Therefore,
P (yellow ball) =
c. There no blue ball in the bag. Hence,
P (blue ball) =
Concepts of Probability
Note:
For any event E, 0 ≤ P(E) ≤ 1
P (impossible event) = 0
P (certain event) = 1

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