Finite probability spaces:

Let (S) be a finite sample space; say, 𝑆 = 𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , … … , 𝑎𝑟 . A finite probability space is obtained by assigning to
each point 𝑎𝑖 ∈ 𝑆 a real number 𝑝𝑖 , , called the probability of 𝑎𝑖 satisfying the following properties:

 Each 𝑝𝑖 is nonnegative, 𝑝𝑖 ≥ 0

 The sum of the 𝑝𝑖 is one, 𝑝1 + 𝑝2 + ⋯ + 𝑝𝑛 = 1

Ex.2:
Three horses A, B and C are in a rice, A is twice as likely to win as B and B is twice as likely to win as C what are
their respective probabilities of winning i.e. P(A), P(B) and P(C)?

Let 𝑃 𝐶 = 𝑝; since B is twice as likely to win as C, 𝑃 𝐵 = 2𝑝; and since A is twice as likely to win as B,

𝑃 𝐴 = 4𝑝. Now the sum of the probabilities must be 1

𝑝 + 2𝑝 + 4𝑝 = 1

1 2 4
𝑝 = = 𝑃 𝐶 ,∴ 𝑃 𝐵 = , 𝑃 𝐴 =
7 7 7
Finite equiprobable spaces:

Frequently, the physical characteristics of an experiment suggest that the various outcomes of the samples space be
assigned equal probabilities. Such a finite probability space S, where each sample point has the same probability,
will be called an equiprobabile or uniform space. In particular, if S contains n points then the probability of each
point is 1Τ𝑛 .

1 𝑟
Furthermore, if an event A contains r points then its probability is 𝑟. 𝑛 = 𝑛 .in the words,

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐴
𝑃 𝐴 =
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑆

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐴 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟

𝑃 𝐴 =
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑆 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟
Ex.3
Let 2 items be chosen at random form from a lot containing 12 items of which 4 are defective, let:
𝐴 = 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒
𝐵 = 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑛 − 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒
Find P(A) and P(B).
12
𝑆 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛 = 66 ways, the number of ways that 2 items can be chosen from 12 items.
2
4
𝐴 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛 = 6 ways, the number of ways that 2 defective items can be chosen from 4 defective items.
2
8
𝐵𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛 = 28 ways, the number of ways that 2 non-defective items can be chosen from 8 non-defective
2
6 1 28 14
items. 𝑃 𝐴 = 66 = 11 ; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃 𝐵 = 66 = 33

Question: what is the probability that at least one item is defective? Now
𝐶 = 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒
Is the complement of B; that is, 𝐶 = 𝐵𝐶
14 19
𝑃 𝐶 = 𝑃 𝐵𝐶 = 1 − 𝑃 𝐵 = 1 − =
33 33