Math Department

Grade 11
Chapter 8
Probability
I- Definitions:
1) Random experiment:
- An experiment is said to be « random » when it verifies the following
three conditions:
• All possible outcomes are known and well defined.

• An outcome is not predictable.

• The experiment could be repeated in the same conditions.

- A set of outcomes is called an event.

➢ Example 1:
A coin is tossed.
• There exist two possible outcomes: Head (H) and tail (T).

• We cannot predict the outcome and we can repeat the experiment

many times.
So, it is a random experiment of two outcomes.
➢ Example 2:
A fair die of six faces numbered from 1 to 6 is rolled.

It is a random experiment of six outcomes.

« Obtaining an odd number » is an event of three elements 1;3 ;5  .
2) Events:
A cubic die is rolled.

 The upper face will carry one of the following digits 1, 2, 3, 4,

5 and 6. If the die is not fake, we cannot predict the outcome
digit and so the experiment is random.
 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are the outcomes.

 The set of all possible outcomes is the sample space  (« omega »):
{1;2;3;4;5;6}
 An event is a subset of the sample space.
Example: {1;2;3;4;5;6}
 The event « obtaining a number strictly greater than 4 »
is the event 5 ;6







 The event « obtaining 4 » has only one outcome. It is

an elementary event.

 The event « obtaining 7 » is an impossible event. It is

an empty set.
 The event « obtaining one of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 » is a
certain event. It is the sample space.
II- Probability:
Let  a1; a2 ; a3 ;.........an  be the sample space formed of n
elementary events with n1.
The probability is a mapping P that assigns to each event A of
 , a real number between 0 and 1. This real number is
denoted by P  A  and called probability of A .

P :  0,1
A  P( A)

P  A  is the chance that A will be realized.

For example,
The chance of getting the number 4 while throwing a fair die
is 1 out of 6, or 1 .
6
Properties:
1. If A is an event of a sample space  such that A  a1, a2, a3  , then
P  A   P  a1   P  a2    P  a3  
 

2. If all elementary events have the same probability, the sample space
is said to be equiprobable.
That is, if Card  n then:
 For any elementary event ai  , we have P  ai    1
n.
 For any event E , we have:

P  E   Card E  number of favorable outcomesof E .

Card  number of possibleoutcomesof 
Activity:
A fair six-sided die is rolled.
Here, the experiment is:
Rolling a fair die

1.What is the set of all possible outcomes?

  1,2,3,4,5,6

This is called the universe or the

sample space of the experiment
denoted by (« omega »)
{1;2;3;4;5;6}
2.Find the probability of:
A:« Getting an odd number »
 is called an event.
A  1,3,5  It is a collection of outcomes.
 The probability of an event is:
P A  3  1
6 2

B :« Getting the number 3 »

B  3
B is an elementary event since it
P B   1 has only one accepted outcome
6
{1;2;3;4;5;6}

C :« Getting a number less than 8 »

is called a certain event, since it
C  1,2,3,4,5,6
will for sure occurs.
P  C   6 1
6

D :« Getting the number 7 »

D  is called an impossible event
denoted by since it has no outcomes.
P D   0  0
6 It is an empty set.
{1;2;3;4;5;6}
E :« Getting a number less than 5 »

E  1,2,3,4  P  E   4  2  It is the intersection between the

6 3
two events and denoted by
F :« Getting a multiple of 2 »
.
F   2,4,6  P  F   3  1
6 2  It is the event that
G :« Getting a number less consists of all common outcomes to
than 5 and a multiple of 2 » and
G  E  F   2,4
 The two events must occur
P G   2  1
6 3 simultaneously (At the same time).
 EF

E F
{1;2;3;4;5;6}

M :« Getting a number greater than 4 »

M  5,6  P  M   2  1
6 3

N :« Getting a divisor of 4 »
N  1,2,4  P  N   3  1
6 2
H :« Getting a number greater
than 4 and divisor of 4 »

H  M  N  We say that and are incompatible

(mutually exclusive- disjoint)
P H   0  0
6
Since
 

M N
{1;2;3;4;5;6}
L :« Getting a number less than 4 »
 It is the union between the two
L  1,2,3  P  L   3  1
6 2
events and denoted by
F :« Getting a number multiple of 2 » .

F   2,4,6  P  F   3  1  It is the event that

6 2
K :« Getting a number less consists of all outcomes that
than 4 or multiple of 2 » satisfy at least one of the two
K  L  F   1,2,3,4,6 events and .

P K   5  It is the set of all elements

6
found in or
 L F

F
L
Compare P  L  F  and P  L   P  F   P  L  F 

We have:

L  F   2   P  L F   1
6

P  L  F   5
6

P  L   P  F   P  L  F   1  1  1  5

2 2 6 6

So, we get: P  L  F   P(L)  P(F )  P(L  F )

{1;2;3;4;5;6}
W : « Getting the number 4 »

W  4  P W   1
6
R : « Getting a number different from 4 »

R  1,2,3,5,6

 P R   5
6  The event is the complement of
the event denoted by .
 consists of all non-favorable
outcomes to the event
 

R W

W
We have W  4 , R  1,2,3,5,6 , P W   16 and P  R   5
6

Complete:
1.The event R is the complement of the event W .
In other words, we say that R W
In general
2. R W  

3. R W  

4. P  R   P W   1

 P  R  1 P W 
Properties:
If A and B are two events of a sample space  of a certain
experiment, then:
1. P  A B   P  A   P  B   P  A B 

2. Aand B are incompatible(mutually exclusive-disjoint)

if and only if P  A B   0

3. A and B are complementary if and only if P  A B   0

and P  A B  1




B  A 
 

We have P( A)  P( A) 1

 A B  A B
Remark: Demorgan’s theorem: 




A B  A B
Application 1:
Let  be a sample space.
1.Let A and B be two events of  such that p  A   0.2 , p  B   0.4
and p  A B   0.1
Calculate p  A  and p  A B 
 

 

p  A  1 p  A 

 

1 0.2  0.8

p  A B   p  A   p  B   p  A B 

 0.2  0.4  0.1 0.5

2.Let C and D be two incompatible events of  such
that p  C   0.8 and p  D   0.7
 

   

Calculate p  C  D 

p  C  1 p  C 

 

1 0.8  0.2

p  D  1 p  D 

 

1 0.7  0.3

p  C  D   p  C   p  D   P  C D 

p  C  D   p  C   p  D   0

 0.2  0.3 0  0.5

Application 2:

Complete:

Experiment Sample space

Rolling a fair 4-sided die   1,2,3,4

Flipping a fair coin    Head ,Tail    H ,T 

Flipping a fair coin twice    HH , HT ,TH ,TT 

Application 3:

The students of a secondary class are distributed as shown in the

table below:

Students Lebanese Americans French Total

Boys 5 2 3
Girls 7 20
Total 13

1.Complete the above table.

Students Lebanese Americans French Total
Boys 5 2 3 10
Girls 8 7 5 20
Total 13 9 8 30
Students Lebanese Americans French Total
Boys 5 2 3 10
Girls 8 7 5 20
Total 13 9 8 30

2.One student is chosen at random:

Calculate the probability of each of the following events:
H : « The chosen student is Italian »
H is an impossible event  P  H   0

F : « The chosen student is French »

P  F   P  french   8  4
30 15
B : « The chosen student is a boy »
P  B   P  boy   10  1
30 3
Students Lebanese Americans French Total
Boys 5 2 3 10
Girls 8 7 5 20
Total 13 9 8 30

E : « The chosen student is not American »

P  E   P  not American   21  7
30 10

OR

 
P  E   P  not American  1 P E

1 P  American 

1 9  21  7
30 30 10
Students Lebanese Americans French Total
Boys 5 2 3 10
Girls 8 7 5 20
Total 13 9 8 30

W : « The chosen student is a Lebanese girl »

P W   P  Lebanese and girl   P  Lebanese  girl   8  4

30 15

K : « The chosen student is a girl or Lebanese »

P  K   P  Lebanese  girl 
 P  Lebanese   P  Girl   P  Lebanese Girl 

 13  20  8  25  5
30 30 30 30 6
Application 4:
In a bag there are 12 identical tokens numbered from 1 to 12.
One token is drawn at random. Calculate the probability of
the following events:

P  number 2   1

12
1
P  number 7   12

P  odd number   6  1

12 2 odd  1,3,5,7,9,11

P  primenumber   5 prime   2,3,5,7,11

12
P  multipleof 3   4  1 Multiples of 3  3,6,9,12
12 3
  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

6 1
P  Divisior of 12   12 2 Divisiors of 12  1,2,3,4,6,12 

P  evenand multipleof 3   2  1 Even and multiples of 3  6,12

12 6

P  odd number or amultipleof 3  ???

 p(odd  multipleof 3)
 p  odd   p  multipleof 3  p  odd and multipleof 3

 6  4 2 Odd and multiples of 3  3,9

12 12 12
 8 2
12 3
Exercise 1:
A class consists of 30 students. 14 like volleyball and 18 like
basketball. 6 students like both sports.

1. Verify that the number of students that don’t like any of the
two sports is 4 Class
30  8612   4

Volleyball Basketball

8 6 12

4
One student is chosen at random.
2.Calculate the probability of each of the following events:
V : «The student likes volleyball» Class

P V   14  7
30 15 Volleyball Basketball

8 6 12
4
B : «The student likes basketball»

P  B   18  3
30 5 Class

Volleyball Basketball

8 6 12
4
C : «The student likes basketball and volleyball»

P C   P  BV 

 6 1
30 5 Class

Volleyball Basketball

8 6 12
4
A : «The student likes only basketball»

 
P  A  P BV  12  2
30 5
OR
Class
P  A


 P BV 
Volleyball Basketball
 P  B   P  BV 

 18  6
30 30
8 6 12
 12  2
30 5

4
D : «The student doesn’t like any of the two sports»

 
P  D   P BV  4  2
30 15
Class

OR
Volleyball Basketball
P D 


 P BV 
8 6 12
 P  BV 

1 P  BV  44
1  P B  PV  P BV   Demorgan’s Theorem
 
 
1  18  14  6  1 26  4  2 A B  A B
 30 30 30  30 30 15
E : «The student likes only one sport»

  
P  E   P BV  P BV 
 12  8
30 30
Class
 20  2
30 3

Volleyball Basketball

8 6 12
4
F : «The student likes at least one of the two sports»

P  F   P  only one sport   P  two sports 

 20  6  26  13
30 30 30 15

OR
Class
P  F  1 P  no sports 

1 4
30 Volleyball Basketball
 26  13
30 15

OR 8 6 12
P  F   P  BV 
 26  13
30 15
Exercise 2:
A and B are two events of a sample space  such that
P  A  0.2 , P  B   0.5and P  A B   0.7 .
 

Calculate P  A B  .

We have:    
P A B  P A B 1 P  A B  Demorgan’s Theorem
 0.7 1 P  A B  A B  A B
 P  A B   0.3

We have: P  A B   P  A   P  B   P  A B 

 0.3  0.2  0.5  P  A B 

 P  A B   0.4
Exercise 3:
An urn contains 15 balls such that:
Ball Numbered 1 Numbered 2 Total
Red 3 2 5
Blue 2 4 6
Yellow 1 3 4
Total 6 9 15
One ball is drawn at random. Consider the following events:
R :« The selected ball is red »
B :« The selected ball is blue »
A:« The selected ball is numbered 1 »
1.Calculate the probability that:

a. The selected ball is red.

P  Re d   5  1
15 3 1 1 1 2 2
1 1 2 2 2 2
1 2 2 2
b.The selected ball carries the number 2.

P  Carrying the number 2   9  3

15 5
c. The selected ball is red and carries the number 1.
P  Re d  Carrying number 1

 3 1 1 1 1
15 5 2 2
1 1 2 2 2 2
1 2 2 2

d.The selected ball is not yellow and carries the number 2.

P  Not yellow  Carrying number 2 

 6 2
15 5
e. The selected ball is blue or carries the number 1.

P  Blue  Carrying number 1

 P(Blue)  P  Carrying number 1  P  Blue Carrying number 1

 6 6 2
15 15 15

 10  2
1 1 1 2 2
15 3
1 1 2 2 2 2
1 2 2 2
B :« The selected ball is blue »
Calculate P  B 
 

 
P B  P  Not blue ball 
1 1 1 2 2
 9 3
15 5
1 1 2 2 2 2
OR
1 2 2 2
 
P B 1 P  B 

1 6
15
 9 3
15 5
R :« The selected ball is red »
A:« The selected ball is numbered 1 »

Calculate P  A  R 






1 1 1 2 2
Here, A means the 1 1 2 2 2 2
selected ball is numbered 2
1 2 2 2
 
P A R  P Carrying number 2  not red ball 

 7
15
 B :« The selected ball is blue »
A:« The selected ball is numbered 1 »

Calculate P  B  A  .

 

P  Not blue  Carrying number 1

 P( Not blue)  P  Carrying number1  P  Not blue Carrying number1

 9  6 4
15 15 15 1 1 1 2 2
 11
15
1 1 2 2 2 2
1 2 2 2