INTRODUCTORY TERMINOLOGIES BASIC PROBABILITY
Random Experiment: An experiment or observation which may be repeated a large number of times under
very nearly identical conditions and the possible outcome of any particular observation is unpredictable but all
possible outcomes can be described prior to its performance, is known as Random Experiment.
For example, the experiment of tossing a coin is a random. experiment, as the possible outcomes are
'tails' or 'heads' but the outcome of a particular tossing cannot be predicted.
Sample Points/ Event Points: The outcomes of a random experiment are called sample points or event points.
For example, the sample points in the experiment 'tossing a coin' are Head and Tail, in symbol H and T.
Sample Space: The set of all sample points i.e. the set of all possible outcomes of a Random Experiment is
called the sample space. It is denoted by S.
For example if we throw two coins once, then 𝑆 = {𝐻𝐻, 𝐻𝑇, 𝑇𝐻, 𝑇𝑇}; if we roll a die once,
we have S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} as the event space.
Event: Any subset of the sample space S of a random experiment is called an Event.
For example, in the experiment of 'throwing two coins', A= {TH, HT) is an event because 𝐴 ⊂ 𝑆.
Certain Event: Since every set is a subset of itself, so the sample space is a subset of itself. So this is an event.
This event is called a certain event.
Impossible Event: An event that contains no sample points is called impossible event. It is denoted by ф. For
example in the experiment 'throwing a die' the event 'Face 7’ = ф.
INTRODUCTORY TERMINOLOGIES BASIC PROBABILITY
Complementary Event: For any event A, there is an event containing all the sample points in the sample space
which are not in A. This event is called the complementary event of A and is denoted by 𝐴𝑐 𝑜𝑟 𝐴ҧ 𝑜𝑟 𝐴′.
Obviously 𝐴’ = ′𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝐴’. For example, if A={TH, HT} where S = {HH, TT, TH, HT) then A={HH, TT}.
Note. 𝑆ҧ = ∅; ∅ഥ = 𝑆 ;(𝐴 ) = 𝐴
Simultaneous Occurrence of two Events: Let A1 and A2 be two events. Then the set 𝐴1 ∩ 𝐴2 , represents the
simultaneous occurrence of the two events A1 and A2. This event is also denoted by 𝑨𝟏𝑨𝟐
For example, in the experiment 'rolling a die' let A1 = 'Even face' A2 ='Multiple of three’.
Then 𝐴1 ∩ 𝐴2 = {6} is the event whose occurrence shows the simultaneous occurrence of A1 and A2.
At least one of Two Events: Let A1 and A2 be two events. Then the set 𝐴1 ∪ 𝐴2 represents 'at least one of A1
and A2'. This event is also denoted by 𝑨𝟏 + 𝑨𝟐.
For example, in the experiment rolling a die let
A1 = Even face ={2,4,6}, A2 = Multiple of three ={3,6}. Then 𝐴1 ∩ 𝐴2 = {2,4, 6,3} is the event whose
occurrence shows the occurrence of at least one of 'even face' and 'Multiple of 3'.'
Disjoint or Mutually Exclusive (m.e.) Events: If two events A1, A2 have no common sample points
i.e. if 𝐴1 ∩ 𝐴2 = 𝜙, they are called Mutually Exclusive Events.
For example, in a previous example if A1 ={HH, TT}
A2 ={HT, TH}, then 𝐴1 ∩ 𝐴2 = 𝜙 . So, A1 and A2 are mutually exclusive events. Two m.e. events cannot occur
simultaneously.
INTRODUCTORY TERMINOLOGIES BASIC PROBABILITY
Pairwise Disjoint Events: Let A1, A2,…, An be n number of events. Events Ai (i = 1,2,…,n) are said to be
pairwise disjoint if no two of them have any common event points i.e. if 𝐴𝑖 ∩ 𝐴𝑗 = 𝜙, 𝑖 ≠ 𝑗 and i, j= 1, 2
,…, n.
Exhaustive Events: Two or more events are said to be exhaustive if at least one of them necessarily occurs
or in other words the events A1, A2, … … are exhaustive if 𝐴1 ∪ 𝐴2 ∪ 𝐴3 ∪ ⋯ … = 𝑆
For example, in the experiment of throwing two coins once, the events A1={HH}, A2={TT} and
A3 ={HT, TH} are exhaustive.
Elementary or Simple Event: An event containing exactly one sample point is called Elementary Event.
For example, A1 ={2}, A2={5}, A3={3) etc. are simple event of an experiment of rolling a die.
Composite Event: The event which can be decomposed into simple events i.e. which can be expressed as
union of two or more simple events is called Composite Event.
For example, in the experiment of “rolling a die” A1={2,3,4}, A2 = {1, 5} etc. are composite events.
Equally Likely Sample Points: The sample points of a sample space are said to be equally likely if one of
them may not be expected rather than the other.