College Algebra
Tutorial 58: Probability
Learning Objectives
Introduction
In this tutorial we will be going over probability. This will include learning some of the terminology that goes with the different aspects of probability. Things like experiment, sample space and event to name a few. A lot of times people associate probability with gambling, like playing cards and lotto. It can be used to find out your chances of winning :-) or losing :-( a game of chance. But it can also be used in other areas like research and advertising. A doctor might want to weigh the risks of putting a patient on a new drug and may look at the probability of their chances of success on the drug. A company may take a survey of people on certain products to see what is the probability that they will pick their product. So probability can be fun and games, but it can also be useful in a professional setting. I think you are ready to venture into the world of probability.
Tutorial
Experiment
Examples of experiments are rolling a die, tossing a coin, surveying
a group of people on their favorite soft drink, etc...
Sample Space
For example, if our experiment is rolling a single die, the sample space
would be S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. If our experiment is tossing a single
coin, our sample space would be S = {Heads, Tails}. If our experiment
is surveying a group of people on their favorite soft drink, our sample
space would be all of the soft drinks on the survey.
Event
For example, if our experiment is rolling a single die, an event E could be rolling an even number, thus E = {2,
4, 6}. If our experiment is tossing a single coin, an event E could be tossing a Tail, where E = {Tails}.
If our experiment is surveying a group of people on their favorite soft
drink, an event E could be picking a diet soft
drink.
Empirical Probability
For example, a survey may have been taken by a group of people.
If the data collected is used to find the probability of an event tied
to the survey, it would be an empirical probability.
Or if a scientist did research on a topic and recorded the outcome and
the data from this is used to find the probability of an event tied to
the research, it would also be an empirical probability.
Empirical Probability Formula
The numerator of this probability is the number of times or ways that specific event occurs.
The denominator of this probability is the overall number of ways that
the experiment itself could occur.
Using the given table find the probability that a) a student's favorite
ethnic food is Chinese, and b) a student's favorite ethnic food is Mexican.
Round answers to three decimal places.
What do you think n(E) = n(students whose favorite ethnic food is Chinese) is?
If you said 20 you are correct. 20 students indicated that their
favorite ethnic food is Chinese.
What do you think n(S) = n(students surveyed) is?
If you said 82 give yourself a pat on the back. If you total 15 + 20 + 3 + 4 + 30 + 10 you get 82.
Putting this together in the Empirical Probability formula you get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(students whose favorite ethnic food is Mexican) is?
If you said 30 you are correct. 30 students indicated that their
favorite ethnic food is Mexican.
What do you think n(S) = n(students surveyed) is?
If you said 82 give yourself a pat on the back. As found in example 1a above, the total surveyed is 82.
Putting this together in the Empirical Probability formula you get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Some quick examples of this are:
A toss of a fair coin. It is equally likely for a head
to show up as it is for a tail.
Select a name at random from a hat. Since it is at random, each name is equally likely to be picked.
Throwing a well balanced die. Each number on the die has
the same amount of chance of coming up.
Theoretical Probability
For example, finding various probabilities dealing with the roll of
a die, a toss of a coin, or a picking of a name from a hat.
Theoretical Probability Formula
For example, if the sample space is rolling a die, where S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, and E is the event of
rolling an even number, E = {2, 4, 6} and F is the event of rolling an odd number, F = {1, 3, 5}, E and F are mutually exclusive, because they
have NO elements in common. Now lets say that event G is rolling a number less than 4, G = {1, 2, 3}. Would event G and E be mutually exclusive? If you said
no, you are correct, they have one element, the number 2, in common. G and F would not be mutually exclusive either.
Properties of Probability
Property 1
So if, P(E) = 1/4 then P(not E)
= 3/4.
Property 3
"Or" probabilities with
mutually exclusive events
"Or" probabilities with events that are NOT mutually exclusive
You need to subtract the intersection to get rid of the elements that
were counted twice. In other words, you may have some
elements in common, so if we add the number of elements in E to the number of elements of F, we may
be adding some elements twice, so to avoid this we need to subtract the
number of elements in the intersection of the two events - which would
be all the elements that are in both sets.
Here is a table of all the possible outcomes of having a pair of dice
tossed:
(1, 1)
(1, 2)
(1, 3)
(1, 4)
(1, 5)
(1, 6)
(2, 1)
(2, 2)
(2, 3)
(2, 4)
(2, 5)
(2, 6)
(3, 1)
(3, 2)
(3, 3)
(3, 4)
(3, 5)
(3, 6)
(4, 1)
(4, 2)
(4, 3)
(4, 4)
(4, 5)
(4, 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)
What do you think n(E) = n(at least one of the dice shows a 6) is?
If you said 11 you are correct. Looking at the table
above, there are 11 rolls of two dice that contain at least one
6.
What do you think n(S) = n(rolls of a pair of fair dice) is?
If you said 36 give yourself a pat on the back. Looking at the table
above, there are 36 possible rolls of two fair dice.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(the sum of the two numbers is 5) is?
If you said 4 you are correct. Looking at the table
above, 4 rolls of two die {(4, 1), (3, 2), (2, 3), (1, 4)} have
a sum of 5.
What do you think n(S) = n(rolls of a pair of fair dice) is?
If you said 36 give yourself a pat on the back. Looking at the table
above, there are 36 possible rolls of two fair dice.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(only men are selected) is?
Since we are counting committees that means we are counting groups of people, which means we need to use combinations to count them. If you need a review on combinations, feel free to go to Tutorial 57: Combinations.
If you said 10 you are correct.
Let's see how we get that number.
Here is what the committee looks like: we would have to have 2 men to meet this condition:
2 MEN
*Comb. of n = 5 men taken r = 2 at a time
*Eval. inside ( )
*Expand 5! until it gets to 3!
which is the larger ! in the den.
*Cancel out 3!'s
If you have a factorial key, you can put it in as 5!, divided by 3!, divided by 2! and then press enter or =.
If you don't have a factorial key, you can simplify it as shown above
and then enter it in.
If you said 105 give yourself a pat on the back.
Again you would have to use combinations to figure this one out.
Overall, there are 10 women and 5 men for a total of 15 people, taken 2
at a time.
*Eval. inside ( )
*Expand 15! until it gets to 13!
which is the larger ! in the den.
*Cancel out 13!'s
If you have a factorial key, you can put it in as 15!, divided by 13!, divided by 2! and then press enter or =.
If you don't have a factorial key, you can simplify it as shown above
and then enter it in.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(1 man and 1 woman are selected) is?
Since we are counting committees that means we are counting groups of people, which means we need to use combinations to count them. If you need a review on combinations, feel free to go to Tutorial 57: Combinations.
If you said 50 you are correct.
Let's see how we get that number.
Here is what the committee looks like: we would have to have 1 man and 1 woman to meet this condition:
1 MAN 1 WOMAN
*Comb. of n = 5 men taken r = 1 at a time
*Comb. of n = 10 women taken r = 1 at a time
*Eval. inside ( )
*Expand 5! until it gets to 4! and 10! until
it gets to 9!
which are the larger !'s in the den.
*Cancel out 4!'s and 9!'s
If you have a factorial key, you can put it in as 5!, divided by 4!, divided by 1! times 10!, divided by 9!, divided by 1! and then press enter or =.
If you don't have a factorial key, you can simplify it as shown above
and then enter it in.
If you said 105 give yourself a pat on the back. As found in example
3a above, the total number of 2 person committees is 105.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Let's break it down first by finding each separate probability.
P(a senior is picked)
What do you think n(E) = n(seniors) is?
If you said 27 you are correct. There are 12 male seniors and
15 female seniors for a total of 27 seniors.
What do you think n(S) = n(students) is?
If you said 71 give yourself a pat on the back. If we add all
the students together we get 71.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(juniors) is?
If you said 15 you are correct. There are 10 male juniors and
5 female juniors for a total of 15 juniors.
What do you think n(S) = n(students) is?
If you said 71 give yourself a pat on the back. If we add all
the students together we get 71.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Putting the two probabilities of mutually exclusive events together
we get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Let's break it down first by finding each separate probability.
P(a freshman is picked)
What do you think n(E) = n(freshmen) is?
If you said 23 you are correct. There are 11 male freshmen and
12 female freshmen for a total of 23 freshmen.
What do you think n(S) = n(students) is?
If you said 71 give yourself a pat on the back. If we add all
the students together we get 71.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(females) is?
If you said 36 you are correct. There are 15 female seniors, 5
female juniors, 4 female sophomores and 12 female freshman for a total
of 36 females.
What do you think n(S) = n(students) is?
If you said 71 give yourself a pat on the back. If we add all
the students together we get 71.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(freshmen AND female) is?
If you said 12 you are correct. There are 12 female freshmen.
What do you think n(S) = n(students) is?
If you said 71 give yourself a pat on the back. If we add all
the students together we get 71.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Putting the probabilities of non mutually exclusive events together
we get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(freshmen) is?
If you said 23 you are correct. There are 11 male freshmen and
12 female freshmen for a total of 23 freshman.
What do you think n(S) = n(students) is?
If you said 71 give yourself a pat on the back. If we add all
the students together we get 71.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
E and F are Independent Events if an only if
Two events are independent of each other if the outcome of one event
does not affect the outcome of the other event.
You can use this formula to show if two events are independent or not.
Let's break it down.
What do you think n(E) = n(hearts) is?
If you said 13 you are correct. There are 13 cards in a deck that have
heart on them.
What do you think n(S) = n(cards) is?
If you said 52 give yourself a pat on the back. There are 52 cards in a deck.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
What do you think n(E) = n(aces) is?
If you said 4 you are correct. There are 4 cards in a deck that have
an ace on them.
What do you think n(S) = n(cards) is?
If you said 52 give yourself a pat on the back. There are 52 cards in a deck.
Putting this together in the Theoretical Probability formula you
get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*reducing the fraction
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Putting the probabilities of two events that are independent together
we get:
*putting in the numbers found above
*rounding to 3 decimal places
Practice Problems
To get the most out of these, you should work the problem out on your own and then check your answer by clicking on the link for the answer/discussion for that problem. At the link you will find the answer as well as any steps that went into finding that answer.
Practice Problems 1a - 1b:
The table below lists the results of a student survey pertaining to favorite types of music. Music Rock Jazz Country Classical Rap Number 51 24 33 5 15
Using the given table find the probability that
1a. a student's favorite type of music is jazz. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 1a)1b. a student's favorite type of music is classical. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 1b)
Practice Problems 2a - 2e: You are dealt one card. Find the probability that you are dealt
2a. a jack. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 2a)2b. a heart or club. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 2b)2c. a heart and a club. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 2c)2d. an ace and a spade. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 2d)2e. an ace or a spade. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 2e)
Practice Problems 3a - 3b: From a group of 7 freshmen, 9 sophomores, 8 juniors, and 10 seniors, 6 names will be drawn. Find the probability that
3a. 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores and 2 juniors are selected. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 3a)3b. only seniors are selected. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 3b)
Practice Problems 4a - 4b: You roll a single die two times. Find the probability that
4a. a six is rolled the 1st time and an odd number is rolled a 2nd time. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 4a)4b. a number less than or equal to 2 is rolled the 1st time and an even number is rolled the 2nd time. Round answer to three decimal places.
(answer/discussion to 4b)
Need Extra Help on these Topics?
The following are webpages that can assist you in the topics that were covered on this page:
http://www.mathleague.com/help/percent/percent.htm#whatisanevent
This webpage goes over events.http://www.mathleague.com/help/percent/percent.htm#probability
This webpage goes over probability.
Go to Get Help Outside the Classroom found in Tutorial 1: How to Succeed in a Math Class for some more suggestions.
Last revised on May 21, 2011 by Kim Seward.
All contents copyright (C) 2002 - 2011, WTAMU and Kim Seward. All rights reserved.