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Probability. Definition of Probability. Probability is defined as the chance that a given event will occur. What is an event?. An event is an experiment or a collection of experiments. The following are examples of events: *A coin toss *Rolling a die *Drawing a card from a deck.
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Definition of Probability • Probability is defined as the chance that a given event will occur.
What is an event? • An event is an experiment or a collection of experiments. • The following are examples of events: *A coin toss *Rolling a die *Drawing a card from a deck
Possible Outcomes of an Event • Possible outcomes of an event are the results which may occur from any event. (Remember, they may not occur.) • For example, a coin toss has two possible outcomes. The outcomes are “heads” or “tails.”
Probability of an Outcome • The probability of an outcome for a particular event is a number telling us how likely a particular outcome is to occur. • This number is the ratio of the number of ways the outcome may occur to the number of total possible outcomes for the event. • Example is 1/6. That is the probability of rolling a 2 on a dice.
How can probability be expressed? Probability can be expressed as: • A fraction • A decimal • A percentage All of these are known as ratios.
Since the number of ways a certain outcome may occur is always smaller or equal to the total number of outcomes, the probability of an event is a ratio from 0 to 1.
For example, if you have 7 apples and 8 oranges in a bag, the probability of drawing an apple out of the bag is 7/15. The total number of possibilities (apples and oranges) is 15, which is the denominator, and the numerator is the total number of apples. • Notice that 7/15 is less than 1.