4/11/2019 Probability
Introduction to Probability
Probability
Probability is the measure of the likelihood of an event to occur. Events can’t be
predicted with certainty but can be expressed as how likely it can occur using the idea
of probability.
Probability can range between 0 and 1, where 0 probability means the event be an
impossible one and probability of 1 indicates a certain event.
Experiment
An experiment:
is any procedure that can be infinitely repeated or any series of actions that have a
well-defined set of possible outcomes.
can either have only one or more than one possible outcomes.
is also called the sample space.
Trail
A single event that is performed to determine the outcome is called trial.
All possible trials that constitute a well-defined set of possible outcomes, are
collectively called as an experiment/sample space.
Experimental Probability
Experimental/Empirical Probability
The empirical probability of an event that may happen is given by:
Probability of event to happen P (E) =
N umber of f avourable outcomes
(T otal number of outcomes)
Coin tossing experiment
Considering a fair coin, there are only two possible outcomes that is either getting heads or
tails.
Number of possible outcomes = 2
Number of outcomes to get head = 1
Probability to get head =
N umber of outcomes to get head 1
=
N umber of possible outcomes 2
Rolling of Dice Experiment
[Link] 1/2
4/11/2019 Probability
When a fair dice is rolled, the number that comes up top is a number between one to six.
Assuming we roll the dice once, to check the possibility of three coming up.
Number of possible outcomes = 6
Number of outcomes to get three = 1
Probability to get three =
N umber of outcomes to get three 1
=
(N umber of possible outcomes) 6
Sum of Probabilities of Favorable and unfavorable events
When a trial is done for an expected outcome, there are chances when the expected
outcome is achieved. Such a trial/event is called favourable event.
When a trial is done for an expected outcome, there are chances when the expected
outcome is not achieved. Such a trial/event is called unfavourable event.
All favourable and unfavourable event outcomes come from the well-defined set of
outcomes.
Suppose an event of sample space S has n favourable outcomes. Then, there are S-n
unfavourable outcomes.
The probability of favourable and unfavourable events happening depends upon the
number of trials performed, however, the sum of both these probabilities is always
equal to one.
[Link] 2/2