Unions and Intersections Unions and Intersections

Compound events---defined as a composition

of two or more other events
A B
They can be formed in two ways:
• Union---the union of two events A and B, denoted
as A  B, is the event that occurs if either A or B or
both occur on a single performance of an
experiment
• Intersection---the intersection of two events A and
B, denoted as A  B, is the event that occurs if both A B A B S
A and B occur on a single performance of the
experiment Formal Addition Rule
P  A  B   P  A  P  B   P  A  B 

Roll two standard dice and record the sum of up faces

Define C: {A 5 appears on at least one of the dice Unions and Intersections
What is P(C)? P(C) = 11/36

1 2 3 4 5 6 A B
1 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6
(2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C

3 4 5 6 7 8 9
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9 10 11 A B C S
5
7 8 9 10 11 12 What is A  C ?
6
A  C is empty  P(A and C) = 0

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Unions and Intersections Disjoint and Mutually Exclusive Events
Events A and B are disjoint or mutually exclusive
A B if they cannot occur at the same time.
Two or more events are mutually exclusive if no two
of them have outcomes in common.

C A

What is A  B  C ? S
P  A  B  C   P  A  P  B    C 
B
- P  A  B - P  B  C  - P  A  C 
S
 P A B C

Disjoint and Mutually Exclusive Events Disjoint and Mutually Exclusive Events
Events A and B are disjoint or mutually exclusive Events A and B are disjoint or mutually exclusive
if they cannot occur at the same time. if they cannot occur at the same time.
Two or more events are mutually exclusive if no two Two or more events are mutually exclusive if no two
of them have outcomes in common. of them have outcomes in common.

Three non-mutually
C exclusive events
A A

B
S S

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 Complementary Events
Unions and Intersections
Complement---the complement of event A,
Applet with a Venn diagram containing three events. You c
denoted as A or A , is the event that A does not
can play around with the 3 events—intersecting or not
occur ; the event consisting of all sample points
http://stat-www.berkeley.edu/~stark/Java/Html/Venn3.htm not in A
Rules: P  A  P  A   1
Lets you visualize various situations and displays P  A   1  P  A
probabilities for the situations. Also includes some P  A  1  P  A 
conditional probabilities (definition next time).

May be useful for events with large numbers of

possible outcomes

Complementary Events Complementary Events

Example Example
Toss a coin ten times and record the up face Consider the complement of A,
after each toss. What is the probability of
event A : {No heads are observed in 10 tosses} =
A: {Observe at least one head}? {TTTTTTTTTT}
The list of possible sample points is long: What is P( A)?
HHHHHHHHHH, HHHHHHHHHT, P( A ) = 1/1,024
HHHHHHHHTH, HHHHHHHTHH, etc.
Now, P(A) = 1 – P( A ) = 1 – 1/1,024
How many possible outcomes are there? = 1,023/1,024 = 0.999
210  1,024

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Example Describe each of the following events in terms of
A study of binge alcohol drinking by college unions, intersections and complements
students was published by the Amer. Journal of
Public Health in July ’95. Suppose an  A  B, A  B, A, etc.
experiment consists of randomly selecting one a. The student is male and a binge drinker -- A  B
of the undergraduate students who participated
in the study. b. The student is not a binge drinker -- A
Consider the following events: c. The student is male or lives in a coed dorm -- B  C

A: {The student is a binge drinker} d. The student is female and not a binge -- A  B
drinker
B: {The student is a male}
C: {The student lives in a coed dorm} A: {The student is a binge drinker}
B: {The student is a male}
C: {The student lives in a coed dorm}