PROBABILITY

4.1. INTRODUCTION

PROBABILITY

Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning events and numerical

descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is
a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an
event is to occur. The higher the probability of an event, the more likely it
is that the event will occur. A simple example is the tossing of a fair
(unbiased) coin. Since the coin is fair, the two outcomes ('heads' and 'tails')
are both equally probable; the probability of 'heads' equals the probability
of 'tails'; and since no other outcomes are possible, the probability of either
'heads' or 'tails' is 1/2 (which could also be written as 0.5 or 50%).

WHY IS PROBABILITY IMPORTANT?

You use or see probability all around you on a daily basis. Even if you
don't realize it, you use probability every day to make decisions about
things with an unknown outcome. You may unknowingly perform
mathematical calculations with theoretical or experimental probability, or
you may make judgment calls with subjective probability. Here are some
real-life examples of how you might use or see probability every day.

WEAHER

Meteorologists aren’t able to exactly predicts the weather, so they use

instruments and tools to find the likelihood of snow, rain or other weather
conditions. If there is a 30% chance of rain, the meteorologist has
determined the probability of rain such that it has rained on 30 out of 100
days with similar weather conditions. Because of the forecast, you use
probability to decide weather to wear sandals or rain boots to work that
morning.
SPORTS

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Competitions and games. For example, if a football kicker makes 10 out of
15 field goals throughout the season, the probability of him scoring his
next field goal is 10/15 or 2/3. Another example is a baseball coach
calculating a player's batting average to determine the lineup for a game. If
a player has a 300batting average, that means he's gotten three hits out of
every 10 bats, and the probability of him getting a base hit is 3/10.

INSURANCE

When analyzing insurance policies and considering deductible amounts,

probability plays an important role. For example, if 20 out of every 100
drivers in your area have gotten hail damage in the last year, then when
choosing your car insurance policy, you can use probability to understand
that there's a 1/5 chance your car will get hail damage. This significant
probability may encourage you to get comprehensive cover for hail
damage and maybe even a lower deductible.

GAMES
When you play games with an element of luck or chance, like board
games, card games or videogames, you often weigh the odds of a desirable
event happening like getting the card you need or rolling a specific
number on the die. The likelihood of that favorable event happening helps
you determine when to take a risk or how much you're willing to risk. One
example is poker players who know the probability of getting certain
hands, like that there's a 42% chance of getting two of a kind versus a 2%
chance of getting three of kind.

PROBABILITY TERMS
SAMPLE SPACE
A sample space is the set of possible outcomes that can occur in a trial.
For example, wen tossing a coin, the set of possible outcomes is {heads,
tails}. Or when rolling a single die, the set of possible outcomes is {1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6}.
SAMPLE POINT

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A sample point is one of the possible outcomes in a sample space. For
example, when using a deck of cards, a sample point would be the ace of
spades or the queen of hearts.

EXPERIMENT OR TRAIL

An experiment or trail is when the outcomes are always uncertain in a

series of actions. For example, selecting a card from a deck, tossing a coin
or rolling a die.

EVENT

An event is one single outcomes as the result of a trial or experiment. For

example, getting a three when rolling a die, or getting an eight of clubs
when choosing a card out of a deck.

OUTCOME

An outcome is a possible result you can get from doing a trial or

experiment, for example, you could get heads when tossing a coin.

COMPLIMENTARY EVENT

A complimentary event is a non-happening event. You write this as, “The

compliment of an event X is the event not A “. You write not X as X’. For
example, with a regular deck of cards, if the event X is drawing a
diamond, then the event X’ is not drawing a diamond.

IMPOSSIBLE EVENT
An impossible event is an event that will not and cannot happen. For
example, you can’t get a number larger than six.
DEFINITION OF PROBABILITY
Probability is a measure of the likelihood of an event to occur. Many
events cannot be predicted with total certainty. We can predict only the
chance of an event to occur i.e., how likely they are going to happen, using

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it. Probability can range from 0 to 1, where 0 means the event to be an
impossible one and 1 indicates a certain event. Probability for Class 10 is
an important topic for the students which explains all the basic concepts of
this topic. The probability of all the events in a sample space adds up to 1.

For example,
when we toss a coin, either we get Head or Tail, only two possible
outcomes are possible (H, T). But when two coins are tossed then there
will be four possible outcomes, i.e {(H, H), (H, T), (T, H), (T, T)}.

BASIC FORMULA OF PROBABILITY

The formula for probability states that the possibility of an event happening,
or P(E) equals the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the number of
total outcomes. Mathematically, it looks like this:
Probability of event P(E) = Number of favourable outcomes / Total
Number of outcomes

Sometimes students get mistaken for “favourable outcome” with

“desirable outcome”. This is the basic formula. But there are some more
formulas for different situations or events.
4.2. TYPES OF PROBABILITY
There are three major types of probabilities
 Theoretical Probability
 Experimental Probability
 Axiomatic Probability

THEORETICAL PROBABILITY
It is based on the possible chances of something to happen. The theoretical
probability is mainly based on the reasoning behind probability. For
example, if a coin is tossed, the theoretical probability of getting a head
will be ½.
EXPERIMENTAL PROBABILITY
It is based on the basis of the observations of an experiment.
The experimental probability can be calculated based on the number of
possible outcomes by the total number of trials. For example, if a coin is

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tossed 10 times and head is recorded 6 times then, the experimental
probability for heads is 6/10 or 3/5.

AXIOMATIC PROBABILITY
In axiomatic probability, a set of rules or axioms are set which applies to
all types. These axioms are set by Kolmogorov and are known
as Kolmogorov’s three axioms. With the axiomatic approach to
probability, the chances of occurrence or non-occurrence of the events can
be quantified. The axiomatic probability. lesson covers this concept in
detail with Kolmogorov’s three rules (axioms) along with various
examples. Conditional Probability is the likelihood of an event or outcome
occurring based on the occurrence of a previous event or outcome.
4.3. APPLICATIONS OF PROBABILITY
Probability has a wide variety of applications in real life. Some of the
common applications which we see in our everyday life while checking
the results of the following events:
 Choosing a card from the deck of cards
 Flipping a coin
 Throwing a dice in the air
 Pulling a red ball out of a bucket of red and white balls
 Winning a lucky draw
 It is used for risk assessment and modelling in various industries
 Weather forecasting or prediction of weather changes
 Probability of a team winning in a sport based on players and
strength of team
 In the share market, chances of getting the hike of share prices
4.4. BASIC CONCEPTS
PROBABILITY TREE
The tree diagram helps to organize and visualize the different possible
outcomes. Branches and ends of the tree are two main positions.
Probability of each branch is written on the branch, whereas the ends are
containing the final outcome. Tree diagrams are used to figure out when to
multiply and when to add. You can see below a tree diagram for the coin:

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PROBABILITY OF AN EVENT

Assume an event E can occur in r ways out of a sum of n probable or

possible equally likely ways. Then the probability of happening of the
event or its success is expressed as;

P(E) = r/n
The probability that the event will not occur or known as its failure is
expressed as:
P(E’) = (n-r)/n = 1-(r/n)
E’ represents that the event will not occur.
Therefore, now we can say;
P(E) + P(E’) = 1

This means that the total of all the probabilities in any random test or
experiment is equal to 1.
WHAT ARE EQUALLY LIKELY EVENTS?

When the events have the same theoretical probability of happening, then
they are called equally likely events. The results of a sample space are
called equally likely if all of them have the same probability of occurring.
For example, if you throw a die, then the probability of getting 1 is 1/6.
Similarly, the probability of getting all the numbers from 2,3,4,5 and 6one
at a time is 1/6. Hence, the following are some examples of equally likely
events when throwing a die:

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  Getting 3 and 5 on throwing a die
 Getting an even number and an odd number on a die
 Getting 1, 2 or 3 on rolling a die

are equally likely events, since the probabilities of each event are equal

PROBABILITY TERMS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS

Some of the important probability terms are discussed here:
Term Definition Example

Sample Space The set of all 1. Tossing a coin, Sample Space

the possible (S) = {H, T}
outcomes to 2. Rolling a die, Sample Space (S)
occur in any = {1,2,3,4,5,6}
trial
Sample Point It is one of the In a deck of Cards:
possible results  4 of hearts is a sample point.
 The queen of clubs is a sample
point.
Experiment or A series of The tossing of a coin, selecting a card
Trial actions where from a deck of cards, throwing a dice
the outcomes
are always
uncertain
Event It is a single Getting a Heads while tossing a coin is
outcome of an an event.
experiment
Outcome Possible result T (tail) is a possible outcome when a
of a coin is tossed.
trial/experiment
Complimentary The non- In a standard 52-card deck, A = Draw a
event happening heart, then A’ = Don’t draw a heart
events. The
complement of
an event A is

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 the event, not A
(or A’)
Impossible The event In tossing a coin, impossible to get
Event cannot happen both head and tail at the same time

EXAMPLE PROBLEMS
1) There are 6 pillows in a bed, 3 are red, 2 are yellow and 1 is blue.
What is the probability of picking a yellow pillow?

Solution: The probability is equal to the number of yellow pillows in the

bed divided by the total
Number of pillows, i.e. 2/6 = 1/3.
2) There is a container full of coloured bottles, red, blue, green and
orange. Some of the bottles are picked out and displaced. Sumit did
this 1000 times and got the following results:

 No. of blue bottles picked out: 300

 No. of red bottles: 200
 No. of green bottles: 450
 No. of orange bottles: 50

a) What is the probability that smith will pick a green bottle?

Solution: For every 1000 bottles picked out, 450 are green.

Therefore, P(green) = 450/1000 = 0.45

b) If there are 100 bottles in the container, how many of them are
likely to be green?

Solution: The experiment implies that 450 out of 1000 bottles are green.

Therefore, out of 100 bottles, 45 are green.

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3)Find the probability of ‘getting 3 on rolling a die’.

Solution: Sample Space = S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

Total number of outcomes = n(S) = 6

Let A be the event of getting 3.

Number of favourable outcomes = n(A) = 1

i.e. A = {3}

Probability, P(A) = n(A)/n(S) = 1/6

Hence, P(getting 3 on rolling a die) = 1/6

4)Draw a random card from a pack of cards. What is the probability

that the card drawn is a face card?

Solution: A standard deck has 52 cards.

Total number of outcomes = n(S) = 52

Let E be the event of drawing a face card.

Number of favourable events = n(E) = 4 x 3 = 12 (considered Jack,

Queen and King only)

Probability, P = Number of Favourable Outcomes/Total Number of

Outcomes

P(E) = n(E)/n(S)

= 12/52

= 3/13

P(the card drawn is a face card) = 3/13

5) A vessel contains 4 blue balls, 5 red balls and 11 white balls. If three
balls are drawn from the vessel at random, what is the probability

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that the first ball is red, the second ball is blue, and the third ball is
white?

Solution: Given,

The probability to get the first ball is red or the first event is 5/20.

Since we have drawn a ball for the first event to occur, then the
number of possibilities left for the second event to occur is 20 – 1
= 19.

Hence, the probability of getting the second ball as blue or the

second event is 4/19.

again, with the first and second event occurring, the number of
possibilities left for the third event to occur is 19 – 1 = 18.

And the probability of the third ball is white or the third event is
11/18.

Therefore, the probability is 5/20 x 4/19 x 11/18 = 44/1368 =

0.032.

or we can express it as: P = 3.2%.

6) Two dice are rolled, find the probability that the sum is:
a. equal to 1
b. equal to 4
c. less than 13

Solution: To find the probability that the sum is equal to 1 we have to first
determine the sample space S
of two dice as shown below.
S = {(1,1),(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(1,5),(1,6)
(2,1),(2,2),(2,3),(2,4),(2,5),(2,6)
(3,1),(3,2),(3,3),(3,4),(3,5),(3,6)
(4,1),(4,2),(4,3),(4,4),(4,5),(4,6)

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 (5,1),(5,2),(5,3),(5,4),(5,5),(5,6)
(6,1),(6,2),(6,3),(6,4),(6,5),(6,6)}
So, n(S) = 36
a) Let E be the event “sum equal to 1”.
Since, there are no outcomes which where a sum is equal to 1,
hence P(E) = n(E) / n(S) = 0 / 36 = 0

b) Let A be the event of getting the sum of numbers on dice equal to

4.
Three possible outcomes give a sum equal to 4 they are:
A = {(1,3),(2,2),(3,1)}
n(A) = 3
Hence, P(A) = n(A) / n(S) = 3 / 36 = 1 / 12
c) Let B be the event of getting the sum of numbers on dice is less
than 13.
From the sample space, we can see all possible outcomes for the
event B, which gives a sum less
than B. (1,1) or (1,6) or (2,6) or (6,6).
so, you can see the limit of an event to occur is when both dies
have number 6, i.e. (6,6).
Thus, n(B) = 36
Hence, P(B) = n(B) / n(S) = 36 / 36 = 1

4.5. TYPES OF EVENTS

Some of the important probability events are:

 Impossible and Sure events

 Simple Events
 Compound Events
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  Independent and Dependent Events
 Mutually Exclusive Events
 Exhaustive Events
 Complementary Events
 Events Associated with ‘OR”
 Events Associated with “And”
 Event E1 but not E2

IMPOSSIBLE AND SURE EVENTS

If the probability of occurrence of an event is 0, such an event is called
an impossible event and if the probability of occurrence of an event is 1, it
is called a sure event. In other words, the empty set ϕ is an impossible
event and the sample space S is a sure event.

SIMPLE EVENTS
Any event consisting of a single point of the sample space is known as
a simple event in probability. For example, if S = {56, 78, 96, 54, 89} and
E = {78} then E is a simple event.

COMPOUND EVENTS
Contrary to the simple event, if any event consists of more than one single
point of the sample space then such an event is called a compound event.
Considering the same example again, if S = {56 ,78 ,96 ,54 ,89}, E1 =
{56 ,54}, E2 = {78 ,56 ,89} then, E1 and E2 represent two compound
events.

INDEPENDENT EVENTS AND DEPENDENT EVENTS

If the occurrence of any event is completely unaffected by the occurrence

of any other event, such events are known as an independent event in
probability and the events which are affected by other events are known
as dependent events.

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MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE EVENTS

If the occurrence of one event excludes the occurrence of another event,

such events are mutually exclusive events i.e. two events don’t have any
common point. For example, if S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} and E1, E2 are two
events such that E1 consists of numbers less than 3 and E2 consists of
numbers greater than 4.

So, E1 = {1,2} and E2 = {5,6}.

Then, E1 and E2 are mutually exclusive.

EXHAUSTIVE EVENTS

A set of events is called exhaustive if all the events together consume the
entire sample space.
COMPLEMENTARY EVENTS
For any event E1 there exists another event E1‘which represents the
remaining elements of the sample space S.
E1 = S − E1‘
If a dice is rolled then the sample space S is given as S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.
If event E1 represents all the outcomes which is greater than 4, then E1 =
{5, 6} and E1‘= {1, 2, 3, 4}.
Thus E1‘is the complement of the event E1. Similarly the complement of
E1, E2, E3………En will be represented as E1‘, E2‘, E3‘……En‘

EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH “OR”

If two events E1 and E2 are associated with OR then it means that either
E1 or E2 or both. The union symbol (∪) is used to represent OR in
probability.

Thus, the event E1U E2 denotes E1 OR E2.

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 If we have mutually exhaustive events E1, E2, E3 ………En associated with
sample space S then,

E1 U E2 U E3 U ………En = S

EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH “AND”

If two events E1 and E2 are associated with AND then it means the
intersection of elements which is common to both the events. The
intersection symbol (∩) is used to represent AND in probability.

Thus, the event E1 ∩ E2 denotes E1 and E2.

EVENT E1 BUT NOT E2

It represents the difference between both the events. Event E 1 but not
E2 represents all the outcomes which are present in E1 but not in E2. Thus,
the event E1 but not E2 is represented as

E1, E2 = E1 – E2

EXAMPLE PROBLEMS
1) Decide which of the following pairs of events (A and B) arising from the
experiments described are mutually exclusive.

(a) Two cards are drawn from a pack

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 A = {are d card is drawn}
B = {a picture card is drawn}

(b) The daily traffic accidents in Lough borough involving pedal cyclists and motor
cyclists are counted

A = {three motor cyclists are injured in collisions

with cars}
B = {one pedal cyclist is injured when hit by a bus}

(c) A box contains 20 nuts. Some have a metric thread, some have a British
Standard Fine (BSF) thread and some have a British Standard Whit worth
(BSW) thread.

A = {first nut picked out of the box is BSF}

B = {second nut picked out of the box is metric}
Solution:

(a) A and Bare not mutually exclusive.

(b) A and Bare mutually exclusive.
(c) A and Bare not mutually exclusive.

2) In the game of snakes and ladders, a fair die is thrown. If event

E1 represents all the events of getting a natural number less than 4,
event E2 consists of all the events of getting an even number and
E3 denotes all the events of getting an odd number. List the sets
representing the following:

i)E1 or E2 or E3

ii)E1 and E2 and E3

iii)E1 but not E3

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Solution:

The sample space is given as S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

E1 = {1,2,3}

E2 = {2,4,6}

E3 = {1,3,5}

i) E1 or E2 or E3= E1 E2 E3= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

ii) E1 and E2 and E3 = E1 E2 E3 = ∅

iii) E1 but not E3 = {2}

4.6. ADDITION AND MULTIPLICATION LAWS OF

PROBABILITY

THE ADDITION LAW

The sample space S is the set of all possible outcomes of a given experiment,
certain events A and B are subsets of S. In the previous section we defined
what was meant by P(A), P(B) and their complements in the particular case in
which the experiment had equally likely outcomes.
 AB denotes the event that event A or event B (or both) occur
when the experiment t is performed.

 AB denotes the event that both A and B occur together.

In this Section we obtain expressions for determining the probabilities of the

se combined events, which are written as P (A∪B) and P (A∩B) respectively.

THE ADDITION LAW OF PROBABILITY-SIMPLE CASE

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If two events A and B are mutually exclusive then
P(AUB) = P(A) + P(B)

THE ADDITION LAW OF PROBABILITY – GENERAL CASE

If two events are A and B then
P(AUB) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A ∩ B)
If A ∩ B = 0, then A and B are mutually exclusive, then P(A ∩ B) =
P(0) = 0 and this general expression reduces to the simpler cases.
This rule can be extended to three or more events. For example
P(A UB U C) = P(A) + P(B) + P(C) - P(A ∩ B) - P(B ∩ C)
P(A ∩ C) + P(A ∩ B ∩ C)
CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY
The probability of occurrence of any event A when another event B in
relation to A has already occurred is known as conditional probability. It is
depicted by P(A|B).

As depicted by the above diagram, sample space is given by S, and there

are two events A and B. In a situation where event B has already occurred,
then our sample space S naturally gets reduced to B because now the
chances of occurrence of an event will lie inside B.

As we have to figure out the chances of occurrence of event A, only a

portion common to both A and B is enough to represent the probability of
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occurrence of A, when B has already occurred. The common portion of
the events is depicted by the intersection of both the events A and B, i.e. A
∩ B.

This explains the concept of conditional probability problems, i.e.

occurrence of any event when another event in relation to has already
occurred.

CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY: BAYES’ THEOREM

Bayes’ theorem defines the probability of occurrence of an event

associated with any condition. It is considered for the case of conditional
probability. Also, this is known as the formula for the likelihood of
“causes”.

P(A/B) = [P(B/A) P(A)]/P(B)

PROPERTIES

PROPERTY 1: Let E and F be events of a sample space S of an

experiment, then we have:

P(S|F) = P(F|F) = 1.

PROPERTY 2: If A and B are any two events of a sample space S and F is

an event of S such that P(F) ≠ 0, then;

P((A ∪ B)|F) = P(A|F) + P(B|F) – P((A ∩ B)|F)

PROPERTY 3: P(A′|B) = 1 − P(A|B)

MARGINAL PROBABILITY

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Marginal probability is the probability of an event happening, such as
(p(A)), and it can be mentioned as an unconditional probability. It does not
depend on the occurrence of another event. For example, the likelihood
that a card is drawn from a deck of cards is black (P(black) = 0.5), and the
probability that a card is drawn is 7 (P (7) = 1/13), both are independent
events since the outcome of another event does not condition the result of
one event.

JOINT PROBABILITY
A joint probability is the probability of event A and event B happening,
P(A and B). It is the likelihood of the intersection of two or more events.
The probability of the intersection of A and B is written as P (A ∩ B). For
example, the likelihood that a card is black and seven is equal to P (Black
and Seven) = 2/52 = 1/26. (There are two Black-7 in a deck of 52: the 7 of
clubs and the 4 of spades). When the intersection of two events happen,
then the formula for conditional probability for the occurrence of two
events is given by;

P(A|B) = N(A∩B)/N(B)
or
P(B|A) = N(A∩B)/N(A)
Where P(A|B) represents the probability of occurrence of A given B has
occurred.

N(A ∩ B) is the number of elements common to both A and B.

N(B) is the number of elements in B, and it cannot be equal to zero.

Let N represent the total number of elements in the sample space.

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 Since N(A ∩ B)/N and N(B)/N denotes the ratio of the number of
favourable outcomes to the total number of outcomes; therefore, it
indicates the probability.

Therefore, N(A ∩ B)/N can be written as P(A ∩ B) and N(B)/N as P(B).

P(A|B) = P(A ∩ B)/P(B)

Therefore, P(A ∩ B) = P(B) P(A|B) if P(B) ≠ 0

P(A) P(B|A) if P(A) ≠ 0

Similarly, the probability of occurrence of B when A has already occurred

is given by,
P(B|A) = P(B ∩ A)/P(A)
To have a better insight, let us practice some conditional probability
examples.

EXAMPLE PROBLEMS

1) Consider a pack of 52 playing cards. A card is selected at random. What

is the probability that the card is either a diamond or ten?
Solution: P (A) = 13/52 and P (B) = 4/52.
The intersection event A  B consists of only one member – the
ten of diamonds – which
gets counted twice hence P (A  B) = 1/52.
Therefore P (A  B) = 13/52 + 4/52 – 1/52 = 16/52
2)A bag contains 20 balls, 3 are colored red, 6 are colored green, 4 are colored
blue, 2 are colored white and 5 are colored yellow. One ball is selected at

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 random. Find the probabilities of the following events.
(a) The ball is either red or green

(b) The ball is not blue

(c) The ball is either red or white or blue. (Hint: consider the
complementary event.)

Solution: Note that a Note that a ball has only one color, designated by the
letters R, G, B, W, Y.
a) P(R∪G) = P(R)+P(G)= (3/20) + (6/20) =
(9/20).
b) P (B1) = 1 – P(B) = 1 – (4/20) = (16/20) =
(4/5).
c) The complementary event is G  Y, P (G  Y)
= (6/20) + (5/20) = (11/20).

3) Two dies are thrown simultaneously, and the sum of the numbers
obtained is found to be 7. What is the probability that the number 3
has appeared at least once?

Solution: The sample space S would consist of all the numbers possible
by the combination of two dies. Therefore, S consists of 6 × 6, i.e. 36
events.

Event A indicates the combination in which 3 has appeared at least once.

Event B indicates the combination of the numbers which sum up to 7.

A = {(3, 1), (3, 2), (3, 3), (3, 4), (3, 5), (3, 6), (1, 3), (2, 3), (4, 3), (5, 3),
(6, 3)}

B = {(1, 6), (2, 5), (3, 4), (4, 3), (5, 2), (6, 1)}

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P(A) = 11/36

P(B) = 6/36

A∩B=2

P(A ∩ B) = 2/36

Applying the conditional probability formula, we get,

P(A|B) = P(A∩B)/P(B) = (2/36)/(6/36) = ⅓

4) In a group of 100 computer buyers, 40 bought CPU, 30 purchased

monitor, and 20 purchased CPU and monitors. If a computer buyer
chose at random and bought a CPU, what is the probability they also
bought a Monitor?

Solution: As per the first event, 40 out of 100 bought CPU,

So, P(A) = 40% or 0.4

Now, according to the question, 20 buyers purchased both CPU and

monitors. So, this is the intersection of the happening of two events.
Hence,

P(A∩B) = 20% or 0.2

By the formula of conditional probability, we know

P(B|A) = P(A∩B)/P(B)

P(B|A) = 0.2/0.4 = 2/4 = ½ = 0.5

The probability that a buyer bought a monitor, given that they purchased a
CPU, is 50%.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – FAQS

Q1 How do you find conditional probability?

Suppose A and B be the two independent events with probabilities
respectively P(A) and P(B) such that the probability of occurrence of
event B given A is given by P(B|A) = P (A ∩ B)/P(A)
Q2 What is the difference between probability and conditional
probability?
The main difference between the probability and the conditional
probability is that probability is the likelihood of occurrence of an event
say A, whereas the conditional probability defines the probability of an
event by assuming another event has already occurred, i.e. in the
conditional probability of A given B, the event B is assumed to have
already occurred.
Q3 Why do we need conditional probability?
Conditional probability is required when some events may occur in
relation to the occurrence of another event.
Q4 What does given mean in probability?
While writing the conditional probability of A given B, i.e. P(A|B), the
symbol “|” represent the word “given”. This means the event after “|” is
already occurred.
Q5 What is an example of conditional probability?
Suppose three cards from a deck of 52 cards are missing. Now the
probability of picking up a card from this deck is a diamond can be found
using the conditional probability.

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