Updated December 26, 2016

This question has already been answered here with equations so adding two screen shots
from an MIT OCW lecture that captures the difference visually:-

Mutually exclusive or disjoint events

The picture below is an example of disjoint or mutually exclusive events. The information
that A occurred immediately tells us B didn’t occur (and vice versa). So mutually exclusive
events are as dependent as two events can get.

Independent events

The picture below of two intersecting circles is an example of a case

of potentially independent events. Independent events, are inherently overlapping events -
they cannot be mutually exclusive (barring zero probability events case). One point to note,
in the case of independence (unlike the image above for mutually exclusive events) the
diagram alone cannot tell us if the two events below are independent events - all the image
below says the events are not mutually exclusive - they are potentially independent. So the
diagram is a necessary but not sufficient condition for independence (a possible explanation
at end of this answer). To check if two events are independent one needs to further do a
numerical check - calculate the product of the probabilities of the individual events and see
if it is the same as the probability of both the events happening together.

 So the visual rendition for independence does not instantly reveal independence
- it only reveals a potential candidate for independent events. One is better off just
asking the simple question which may yield answer in most cases - does the
occurrence of one event have any impact on the occurrence of another (e.g. the
outcome of a coin toss does not influence the outcome of the next toss or another
coin’s toss- hence they are independent events). If the answer does not seem
obvious (an example below; Event A - at least one head ;Event B - at least one tail  ),
then just check it numerically.
 For exclusive events, the visual rendition instantly reveals disjointness, and
inevitably dependence.

The video where he discusses disjoint (mutually exclusive) vs independent events.

A Stack exchange answer summarizes the differences succinctly in formulas.What is the

difference between independent and mutually exclusive events?
Aside (not directly relevant to the question above, so can be skipped)

Why isn’t a visual rendition sufficient for independence? Why does one have to resort
to a numerical check to confirm independence?

The reason may have to do with the fact that

 the visual rendition conflates two cases, one of which is two dependent events,
and the other independent events.
 This perhaps has partly to do with the way overlapping events A and B are
defined. For example, if two events are defined as
o A - at least one head in two tosses; and B- at least one tail in two
tosses. It need not be two sequential tosses -it could be two coins tossed
simultaneously; A - head in coin 1 or coin 2; B- tail in coin 1 or coin 2.
 These are dependent events.
 The venn diagram will be misleading in this case.
o If A is defined as A- head in first toss; B - head in second toss.  It
need not be two sequential tosses either -it could be two coins tossed
simultaneously; A - head in coin 1; B- head in coin 2.
 These are independent events.
 The venn diagram will be correct in this case.
 The ambiguity arising from the conflation of these two cases into one venn
diagram rendition is apparent when one examines the disjoint elements of events
A and B, once we acquire knowledge that one of the events happened.
 So, if the knowledge that A occurred eliminates at least one element in B that is
not intersecting with A from happening, not only by applying A’s definition of the
event, but also by from B’s definition of an event, then events A and B are not
independent - because knowledge of occurrence of A tells us that even those
elements in B that are not intersecting with A could not have happened, by even
B’s definition. On the other hand, if the knowledge of event A occurring eliminates
all non intersecting elements in B only from A’s perspective, but does not violate
B’s definition for even one of them, despite the knowledge A happened, then A
and B are independent. See figure below for both these cases.
 There is an answer here on Quora attempting to remedy this deficiency of visual
rendition by Venn diagram How do you draw a Venn Diagram to the probability of
two independent events?
 Another answer explains the deficiency of visual renditions with Venn diagrams
in general including independence, though it is of value in other cases, like the
mutually exclusive events mentioned earlier, and also for narrowing down the
search space of independent and dependent events. Why do some statisticians
dislike Venn diagrams?
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Kaustav Saha
Answered May 13, 2016

There are two points to this answer :

1. According to definition, mutually exclusive events are thos which have no

outcomes in common, for example, occurrence of even and odd numbers on the
tossing of a die. Independent events are those, between whom the occurrence of
one does not affect the occurrence of the other. For example, the occurrence of
odd numbers on the first throw of die and the occurrence of even (or odd)
numbers on the second throw of a die, as one throw of a die has no bearing on
another.
2. Consider the example in the first point and try to understand this implies that
mutually exclus
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Related Questions
More Answers Below

Can two events be mutually exclusive and independent simultaneously?

Are all mutually exclusive events independent (but not vice versa)?

If two events (A and B) are mutually exclusive and the chance of event A occurring is 0.4 and
event B occurring is 0.8, what is the probability of both events occurring simultaneously?

Kumar Srijan, Founder, CTO at Tryptography

Answered July 4, 2015
Originally Answered: In Probability, What is the difference between a Mutually Exclusive event and an
Independent Event?
Mutual exclusivity means if one event(A) has happened, then the other event(B) did not
happen for sure. It mathematically translates into : P(A|B) = P(B|A) = 0.
Take cricket for instance :
Consider the universe of possibilities for a legal(not a wide or no-ball) ball bowled[0 to 6
runs scored].
Universe = Some runs were scored[0 to 6]
Let A = A boundary is hit [4 or 6 runs]
and B = Dot ball is played [0 runs scored]
P(A|B) = P(B|A) = P(A^B)/P(B) = P(A^B)/P(A) = 0 [So, P(A^B) = 0 ]
The catch here is that knowledge of occurrence of B, helps us to determine the occurrence
of A with absolute ce
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Anand Kumar, works at Morgan Stanley

Answered January 15, 2014

Ley say there are two event

A and B

Mutually Exclusive Says -- If event A occurs event B can't occur and vice versa.

Independent Event implies - Event A and B don't influence each other, in other words event
A occurring gives us no extra information of event B occurring.

Examples

In a coin toss you can only have heads and tails, If you get a head you will not get a tail. So
for a single coin toss Occurrence of head and tail is mutually exclusive.

Whereas if you have two coins , you toss them together, getting a head in 1st coin has no
iflunece on 2nd coin, so occurence of head in two diffeerent coi
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Vikram Gunasekar, studied at PSG College of Technology, Tamil Nadu, India

Answered January 15, 2014

Mutually exclusive - occurrence of one would prevent the occurrence of the other

Independent - occurrence of one has absolutely no influence in occurrence of the other

Consider tossing a coin, occurrence of head and tail are mutually exclusive but you can not
call them independent as occurrence of one obviously prevents another from happening
and hence they are dependent. None of mutually exclusive events can be independent.

Consider tossing twice and the two events of obtaining head in first toss and obtaining
head in second toss. Now this is independent event as one event has no say on other on
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Luis Fok, Web Designer & Developer, LuisFok.com

Updated March 21, 2017
Originally Answered: How can I explain the difference between mutually exclusive events and independent
events with good real life examples?

Events are mutually exclusive if the occurrence of one event excludes the occurrence of the
other(s). For example: when tossing a coin, the result can either be heads or tails but cannot
be both.

Events are independent if the occurrence of one event does not influence (and is not
influenced by) the occurrence of the other(s). Again, with the example of coin tossing; when
tossing two coins, the result of one flip does not affect the result of the other.
This of course means that mutually exclusive events are not independent, and independent
events cannot be mutually exclusive.
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Tushar Arya, worked at Larsen & Toubro Infotech

Answered July 4, 2015
Originally Answered: In Probability, What is the difference between a Mutually Exclusive event and an
Independent Event?
In simpler terms:-

Independent Events - When occurance of one event doesnt depend upon the occurance of
another. Eg: Rolling of a dice and tossing a coin. The probability of rolling a 6 on a dice is
independent of the the probability of a getting a tails on the toss of a coin.
Mutually Exclusive events - When out of two events, only one can occur. If event A occurs, B
can't and vice versa. Eg: Getting a head and tail on a single toss of a coin. Not possible.
Hence event of getting a head or a tail on the toss a coin are mutually exclusive events.

Hope that brings some clarity.

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Mendelsohn Chan
Answered December 24, 2016
Originally Answered: What is the difference between mutually exclusive and independent events?
In simple terms, Mutually Exclusive events CANNOT both happen at the same time,
so P(A ∩ B) = 0 ; Here’s an intuitive example I can think of to illustrate this:

P(A) = the likelihood that an animal is a cat

P(B) = the likelihood that an animal is a dog

P(A ∩ B) = 0 because it is impossible for an animal to be both a dog and a cat.

When two events are said to be independent of each other, what this means is that the
probability that one event happens does not affect the probability of the
other event happening.
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N Nanda Kumar, Product manager (2015-present)

Answered March 28, 2017
Originally Answered: How can I explain the difference between mutually exclusive events and independent
events with good real life examples?
Mutually Exclusive: A and B are mutually exclusive events if A and B cannot occur together.
Eg: In a box there are Small and Large Balls in Yellow and Red Colors. A ball is randomly
picked , a ball can be say small yellow ball, but a ball cannot be red and yellow .

Independence: A and B are Independent if, if probability of B does not dependent on A or

vice versa. eg: A company get products from two suppliers to make a final product. The final
product defect is dependent on probability of defects in the raw materials from suppliers.

Hope this clarifies

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Kohji Wada
Answered December 15, 2016

One way to think of it is similar to taking turns. When multiple people take turns one after
the other, it means the same thing (s) can happen but at different times. In an independent
event, the outcome of one event does not affect the outcome of the other, which is also like
taking turns. That is why it is called independent. The similarity between both of these types
of events anything can happen, but not all at the same time. The difference is in a mutually
exclusive event, NOTHING can happen at the same time. In an independent event,
ANYTHING can happen at the same time.
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Aaron Brown, Quant to the bone

Answered December 24, 2016
Originally Answered: What is the difference between mutually exclusive and independent events?
Mutually exclusive events cannot both happen at once, like getting the number 6 in roulette
and getting the number 19 on the same spin.

Independent events are equally likely whether or not the other occurred, like getting red in
roulette and getting an even number on the same spin (counting 0 and 00 as neither red
nor even as the croupier will do).
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My Acads, B Tech from Indian Institutes of Technology

Answered January 22

Please check this video on Mutually Exclusive and Inclusive Events in Probability on Youtube.
It explains the relation between Mutually Exclusive and Independent and Dependent Events
in Probability.

Mutually Exclusive and Inclusive events in Probability

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Can two events be mutually exclusive and independent simultaneously?

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If two events (A and B) are mutually exclusive and the chance of event A occurring is 0.4 and
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