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Project idea

Perform an experiment to show that as the number of trials increases, the relative frequency approaches the probability of a coin toss. Perform 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 trials of tossing a coin.

Probability identities

The following results apply to probabilities, for the sample space S and two events A and B , within S .

P ( S ) = 1
P ( A B ) = P ( A ) × P ( B )
P ( A B ) = P ( A ) + P ( B ) - P ( A B )

What is the probability of selecting a black or red card from a pack of 52 cards

  1. P(S)=n(E)/n(S)=52/52=1. because all cards are black or red!

What is the probability of drawing a club or an ace with one single pick from a pack of 52 cards

  1. P ( club ace ) = P ( club ) + P ( ace ) - P ( club ace )
  2. = 1 4 + 1 13 - 1 4 × 1 13 = 1 4 + 1 13 - 1 52 = 16 52 = 4 13

    Notice how we have used P ( C A ) = P ( C ) + P ( A ) - P ( C A ) .

The following video provides a brief summary of some of the work covered so far.

Khan academy video on probability

Probability identities

Answer the following questions

  1. Rory is target shooting. His probability of hitting the target is 0,7 . He fires five shots. What is the probability that all five shots miss the center?
  2. An archer is shooting arrows at a bullseye. The probability that an arrow hits the bullseye is 0,4 . If she fires three arrows, what is the probability that all the arrows hit the bullseye?
  3. A dice with the numbers 1,3,5,7,9,11 on it is rolled. Also a fair coin is tossed. What is the probability that:
    1. A tail is tossed and a 9 rolled?
    2. A head is tossed and a 3 rolled?
  4. Four children take a test. The probability of each one passing is as follows. Sarah: 0,8 , Kosma: 0,5 , Heather: 0,6 , Wendy: 0,9 . What is the probability that:
    1. all four pass?
    2. all four fail?
  5. With a single pick from a pack of 52 cards what is the probability that the card will be an ace or a black card?

Mutually exclusive events

Mutually exclusive events are events, which cannot be true at the same time.

Examples of mutually exclusive events are:

  1. A die landing on an even number or landing on an odd number.
  2. A student passing or failing an exam
  3. A tossed coin landing on heads or landing on tails

This means that if we examine the elements of the sets that make up A and B there will be no elements in common. Therefore, A B = (where refers to the empty set). Since, P ( A B ) = 0 , equation [link] becomes:

P ( A B ) = P ( A ) + P ( B )

for mutually exclusive events.

Mutually exclusive events

Answer the following questions

  1. A box contains coloured blocks. The number of each colour is given in the following table.
    Colour Purple Orange White Pink
    Number of blocks 24 32 41 19
    A block is selected randomly. What is the probability that the block will be:
    1. purple
    2. purple or white
    3. pink and orange
    4. not orange?
  2. A small private school has a class with children of various ages. The table gies the number of pupils of each age in the class.
    3 years female 3 years male 4 years female 4 years male 5 years female 5 years male
    6 2 5 7 4 6
    If a pupil is selceted at random what is the probability that the pupil will be:
    1. a female
    2. a 4 year old male
    3. aged 3 or 4
    4. aged 3 and 4
    5. not 5
    6. either 3 or female?
  3. Fiona has 85 labeled discs, which are numbered from 1 to 85. If a disc is selected at random what is the probability that the disc number:
    1. ends with 5
    2. can be multiplied by 3
    3. can be multiplied by 6
    4. is number 65
    5. is not a multiple of 5
    6. is a multiple of 4 or 3
    7. is a multiple of 2 and 6
    8. is number 1?

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Source:  OpenStax, Siyavula textbooks: grade 10 maths [ncs]. OpenStax CNX. Aug 05, 2011 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11239/1.2
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