Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Parada National High School

WORKSHEETS
10
Illustrating Events, and Union and Intersection of Events
Illustrating the Probability of Union of Two Events

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 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Parada National High School

Competency The learner illustrates events, union and intersection of events.

At the end of this module, you should be able to illustrate:
1. events;
Objectives
2. union of events; and
3. intersection of events.

Lesson 1: Illustrating Events, and Union and Intersection of Events

Definitions: EXPERIMENT is any procedure that can be repeated, theoretically, an
infinite number of times; and has a well-defined set of possible outcomes. Each
possible result of an experiment is referred to as a sample outcome. The set of all
possible outcomes is called the SAMPLE SPACE, and is usually denoted by S.
Examples of Sample Space
1. Roll a die and observe the number that comes up.
The sample space consists of a finite set of outcomes. In particular,
S = {1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6}
2. Toss a coin.
In tossing a coin, either a head (H) or a tail (T) will appear. Thus, S = {H, T}.
3. Flip two coins and observe the sequence of heads and tails.
Each outcome is an ordered pair of results from each coin. Letting H and T denote
a head and a tail respectively, it is easy to see by listing that the sample space
has exactly four outcomes: S = {(H, H) (H, T) (T, H) (T, T)}.
A subset of the sample space S of an experiment is called an EVENT. It is a set of
possible outcomes resulting from a particular experiment.
Illustrating Events
An event is usually denoted by a capital letter, followed by either a description or
a list of all the outcomes which are included.
Example 1: Rolling a die and observing the number that comes up. Two possible
events can be defined as follows:
A: The outcome is odd.
B: The outcome is at least 4.
These can be viewed as subsets of the sample space S, with A = {1, 3, 5} and
B = {4, 5, 6}.
Example 2: Performing the same experiment in Example 1, consider the following
events:
C: The outcome is at least 7.
D: The outcome is either odd or even.
Then C = ∅ and D = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. This means that an event may also contain
no elements.
An event can be SIMPLE or COMPOUND.
A SIMPLE EVENT is an event with a single (or one) outcome.
Examples:
1. Rolling a die and getting a 2.
If you roll a die, the number that would come up could be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. When
the die is rolled, it is equally likely to land on one face as on any other.
2. Tossing a coin and landing on a tail.
Since the coin can only land on a tail, the number of ways the event can occur is
one. There are 2 possible outcomes (coin landing on a head or a tail) in the sample
space.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Parada National High School

The events can be combined to form a new event which is called a compound
event. A COMPOUND EVENT is an event consisting of two or more simple events.

Examples:
1. Rolling a die and spinning a color wheel.
If you roll a die, and it is equally likely to land on one number as on any other is an
event and spinning a color wheel that comes up on one color as on any other is
also another event. Combining the two events define a compound event.
2. Getting an even number from rolling a die and a head in tossing a coin.
Since, the die can only land on even numbers, the number of outcomes the
events can happen is three, and landing a head in tossing a coin is once.
Therefore, the said experiment suggests a compound event.
Note: Examples 1 and 2 above clearly illustrates COMPOUND EVENTS because
it is composed of more than one experiment which also yields more than one
outcome.
3. Getting an odd number when rolling a die
In rolling a die, the sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. The number of possible outcome
(getting an odd number) is three which demonstrate a compound event.
The UNION of two events is all outcomes in either or both events.

The Union of Two Events A and B denoted by A ∪𝑩.

The event 𝑨∪𝑩 read as “ A union B” comprises the set of outcomes of A and/or B.
For example, if A = {2, 4, 6} and B = {1, 2, 3}, then 𝑨∪𝑩 = {1, 2, 3, 4, 6}. Using the
Venn diagram to depict the union of the events A and B in a die experiment, we
have:

The universal set U is the sample space S.

The shaded region is the union of A and B.

The INTERSECTION of two events is only those outcomes common in both.

The Intersection of Two Events A and B denoted by A ∩𝑩.

The event 𝑨∩𝑩 read as “A intersection B” comprises the set of outcomes
common to A and B.
𝑨∩𝑩 = { 2 }
Using the Venn diagram to depict the intersection of the events A and B in a die
experiment, we have

The shaded region is the intersection of A and B.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Parada National High School

Activity 1

I. Tell whether the following events are simple or compound. Then give its
outcomes.
Events Type of Event (Simple or Outcome/s of the Event
Compound)
1. Tossing a coin and
getting a tail.
2. Rolling a die and
getting a 3.
3. Tossing two dice and
getting a sum of
11.
4. Rolling a die and
getting a composite
number
5. Spinning a spinner
numbered 1-8 and
land on 1
6. Getting heads in
flipping a coin and an
odd number in rolling a
die

II. Directions: Show the following events using Venn diagram and find the following.
Given:
S = {5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30} be the sample space of an experiment.
T = {5, 10}, V = {5, 20, 30}, and W = {10, 15, 25} be the events of the experiment.
Find:
1. T ∩ V
2. T ∪ V
3. V ∩ W
4. V ∪ W
5. T ∩ W
6. T ∪ W

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 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Parada National High School

Competency The learner illustrate events, union and intersection of events

At the end of this module, you are expected to:
Objectives 1. identify the probability of getting an event and;
2. analyze the probability of union/intersection of two events.

Lesson 2: Illustrating the Probability of a Union of Two Events

Definition: Drawing a card is an experiment that generates the result called
possible outcomes. The set of possible outcomes is called a Sample Space
(denoted by S). A set of some possible outcomes satisfying a given condition
(getting an ace) is called an event (denoted by E). An event E is a subset of the
sample space S.
Imagine you are rolling a die. The experiment is the act of rolling a die. The possible
outcomes are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. When taken together, they are called sample space,
which can be denoted with S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. On the other hand, an event is one
particular outcome, say for example wishing that the outcome is 3 or numbers
greater than 4.
The Venn Diagram
A Venn diagram is a graphical way of representing the relationships between sets.
In each Venn diagram, a set is represented by a circle. The region inside the circle
represents the elements that are included in the set.
The use of Venn diagram in the study of probability, makes it easy for students to
visualize the relationships between the events involved in an experiment. To
construct a Venn diagram, we draw circles inside a rectangle. The elements in the
rectangle represent the sample space (S) in the experiment while the elements in
the circles represent the outcomes of the events (E). Consider two events, A and
B in a sample space S. The diagrams below show the possible ways in which the
events can overlap.

S A B S B S A
A B

In each diagram, the sample space (S) is represented by a rectangle while the
two events are represented by the two circles labeled as A and B.
The first diagram shows two events A and B that partially overlap. This indicates
that the two events have common outcomes. These common outcomes are
those that are found in the overlapping region. The parts where the two circles
do not overlap, indicates that there are elements in one set that are not found in
the other set. The second diagram shows two circles that do not overlap at all.
This indicates that all outcomes of event A are not outcomes of event B and vice
versa. In short events A and B do not have outcomes in common.
In the third diagram, the circle representing event B is found entirely inside the
circle that represents event A. This means that all outcomes of event B are also
outcomes of event A but not all outcomes of event A are outcomes of event B.
Also, there are cases where there are outcomes in the sample space which are
not outcomes of any of the events.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Parada National High School

Example
One hundred ten grade 10 students from Parada National High School are
interviewed if they are willing to join any sport, volleyball (𝑉) or basketball (𝐵) in the
upcoming sports fest. Shown here is the result of the survey.

Sports Volleyball Basketball V and B

No. of students 22 44 33

a. What is the probability that the students are willing to join volleyball?
b. What is the probability that the students are willing to join volleyball only?
c. What is the probability that the students are willing to join basketball?
d. What is the probability that the students are willing to join basketball only?
e. What is the probability that the students are willing to join volleyball or
basketball?

Solution:
In order to find the probability, we need construct first the Venn diagram

S V B

22 33 44

11

To solve the probability of simple event we will apply the formula:

Now, we will check if the number of the students is equal to110
110 ? 22 + 33 + 44
110 ≠ 99 as you can see it is not yet equal to 110 so, we need to subtract 99 from 110
110 – 99 = 11
These 11 students did not join neither volleyball nor basketball. So, we will put 11
outside the circles.
In a sample space, S, where each outcome is equally probable or equally likely
to happen, the probability of an event E, denoted by P(E), is given by
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐸
𝑃(𝐸) =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑆
a. What is the probability that the students are willing to join volleyball?
To find the number of favorable outcomes in the event, we simply add the
numbers found inside the circle representing the students who are willing to join
volleyball. Thus,

22 + 33 55
𝑃(𝐸) = =
110 110
1
𝑃(𝐸) = = 0.5 𝑜𝑟 50%
2

b. What is the probability that the students are willing to join volleyball only?
Again, we will use the formula for probability. This time, we will determine the
number of students who are willing to join volleyball only. Thus, we will only get
the number that is inside circle labeled as V but not inside the circle labeled as B.
That number is 22. So, we have.

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 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Parada National High School

22 1
𝑃(𝐸) = = = 0.2 𝑜𝑟 20%
110 5

c. What is the probability that the students are willing to join basketball?
33 + 44 77 7
𝑃(𝐸) = = = = 0.7 = 70%
110 110 10
d. What is the probability that the students are willing to join basketball only?
44 2
𝑃(𝐸) = = = 0.4 𝑜𝑟 40%
110 5
e. What is the probability that the students are willing to join volleyball or
basketball?
22 + 33 + 44 99 9
𝑃(𝐸) = = = = 0.9 = 90%
110 110 10

Illustrating the Probability of a Union of Two Events

The Union of Two Events
The union of events A and B, denoted by A ∪ B, consists of all outcomes that are
in A or in B or in both A and B. The probability of the union of events A and B,
denoted by 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) is equal to the sum of P(A) and the P(B) minus the Probability
of A and B occurring together which is called the intersection of A and B and is
written as (𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)
𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) − 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)
Example 1
Enzo rolled a fair die and wished to find the probability that “the number that will
turn up is even or greater than 3.
Solution:
When a die is rolled, there are six possible outcomes in the sample space.
S = { 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6}
A= { 2, 4, 6} B= { 4, 5 , 6} (𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) = { 4, 6}
Illustrate the given using the Venn diagram

S A B
4
2 5
6
1 3

Now let’s use the formula

𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) − 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)
3 3 2
𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = + −
6 6 6
4 2
𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = =
6 3

Activity 2

Given the sets below, list down the outcomes of the following. Assume that you
are rolling a die.
A = {1,2,3,4,5} 1. A U B = ______________________
B={3} 2. C U D = ______________________
C = {2,4,6} 3. D U E = ______________________
D = {1,3,5} 4. B U D = ______________________
E = {1,6} 5. A U E = ______________________

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