Mathematics 1228A/B Lecture 13: 2.1 Intro to Probability

• School: Western University
• Department: Mathematics
• Course: Mathematics 1228A/B
• Professor: Allen O'Hara

Document Summary

Probability allows us to use formulas and reasoning to be objective and draw conclusions about uncertainty. We often dealt with experiments which are single actions with finite list of possible outcomes. To study an experiment we use sample space, which are sets, whose elements are called sample points. These sample points represent the outcomes of the experiment. Ex: for the experiment, what is the weather like tomorrow , we might have outcomes: cloudy, sunny, hail, rain, now, foggy. We could make a sample space, s:{cloudy,sunny,hail foggy,rain,snow} space. If we are focused on different aspects of weather we might use a different sample. To truly have a sample space we need: Every outcome of the experiment must be represented by a sample point. No outcome is represented by more than one sample. Ex: consider the experiment flipping a coin 2 times. S:{at least one t,at least one h} (tt) (hh, ht, th) But so is, (tt, ht, th) (th, ht, hh)