Statistics and Probability

Probability is a field of mathematics that deals with chance.

An Experiment is an activity which the results cannot be predicted with certainty.

Each Repetition is called a trial.

An Outcome is a result of an experiment.

An event is a collection of outcomes, and a simple event is an event with only one possible outcome.

Simple events are events where one experiment happens at a time and it will have a single outcome
such as tossing a coin.

Compound events are events where there is more than one possible outcome such as roll a five
using a 6-sided die.

The sample space for a given experiment is a set of S that contains all possible outcomes of the
experiment. In any experiment for which the sample space is S, the probability of an event occuring
is given by the formula.

The sample space for the experiment in throwing a die:

Sample space = {1,2,3,4,5,6}

Probability of an event:
N(event)
P(event) =
N(sample space)

N(event) - Number of outcomes of the event

N(sample space) - Number of all possible outcomes

 Examples:
Example # 1: A coin is tossed, find:
a) The sample space

Sample space = {heads, tails}

n(sample space) = 2

b) The probability of getting heads

N(heads)
P(heads) = = 1/2 or 50%
N(2)

Example # 2: What would be the probability of:

a) Picking a black card at random from a standard deck of 52 cards

N(black cards)
P(black cards) = = 26/52 or 50%
N(52)

b) Picking a face card

N(face card)
P(face card) = N(52)
= 12/52 or 23.08%

c) Not picking a face card

N(not face card)
P(not face card) = = 40/52 or 76.92%
N(52)

Example # 3: What is the probability of rolling, on a fair dice:

a) 3 N(3)
P(3) = = 1/6 or 16.67%
N(6)
b) an even number
N(even number)
P(even number) = = 3/6 or 33.33%
N(6)
c) zero
N(zero)
P(zero) = = 0/6 or 0%
N(6)

d) number greater than 4

N(greater than 4)
P(greater than 4) = = 2/6 or 33.33%
N(6)
e) number lying between 0 and 7
N(lying between 0 and 7)
P(lying between 0 and 7) = = 6/6 or 100%
N(6)