The Nature of Mathematics, 12th Edition
Home
about dr. smith
glossary
transparencies
other books

Chapter1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
group projects
individual projects
links by topic
Section 13.1: Introduction to Probability

13.1 Outline

A.  Terminology
      1. experiment
      2. sample space
      3. event
          a. definition
          b. impossible event
          c. simple event
          d. mutually exclusive
      4. die
          a. equally likely outcomes
          b. sample space
B. Probability
     1.  probabilistic model
     2.  relative frequency
     3.  types of
          a. empirical probabilities (a posteriori)
          b. theoretical probabilities (a priori)
          c. subjective probabilities
     4.  law of large numbers
     5.  definition
     6.  sample space for a pair of dice
     7.  finding probabilities by counting
C. Probabilities of unions and intersections   

13.1 Essential Ideas

If an experiment can result in any of n mutually exclusive and equally likely outcomes, and if s of those outcomes are considered favorable, then the probability of an event E, denoted by P(E), is P(E) =s/n.

Procedure for finding probability by counting:
1.  Describe and identify the sample space, S.  The number of elements in S is n.
2.  Count the number of occurrences that satisfy the event of concern; this is the number of
     successes, s.
3.  Compute the probability of the event using the formula P(E) = s/n.