General Probability Rules

Section 6.3
 The General Addition Rule
For any two events A and B:
P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A and B)
or
P(A  B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A  B)
Find the probability that if you flip two
fair coins, you get heads on the first
coin or heads on the second coin.
Find the probability that if you roll two
dice, you get doubles or a sum of 8.
In a local school, 80% of the students carry
a backpack or a wallet. 40% carry a
backpack and 50% carry a wallet. What is
the probability that a student selected at
random carries both a backpack and a
wallet?
 Let’s Table the Discussion
 Debbie and Matt are waiting to see if they
have been made partners in their law firm.
Debbie has a 0.7 probability of making
partner and Matt’s probability is 0.5. The
probability that they both make partner is
0.3. What is the probability that neither
Debbie nor Matt is promoted?
 On One Condition…
 Conditional Probability is the probability
of one event under the condition that we
know another event.

P( A | B )

- P(Queen of Hearts) = ?
- P(Queen of Hearts | Jack of Clubs)=?
 Don’t Confuse the Issue!
 P(Debbie is promoted) =

 P(Debbie and Matt are both promoted) =

 P(Matt is promoted | Debbie is promoted)

=
General Multiplication Rule
In Other Words…
Here’s to Our Independence!
 Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
 As of July 1, 2000, the Los Angeles Dodgers
had won a total of 41 games and lost 37
games. The breakdown of day and night
games is shown in the table. Are the events
win and day game independent?
Won?
Yes No Total
Day 11 10 21
Time Night 30 27 57
Total 41 37 78