Sections 5.3 and 5.

4
Probabilities Using Counting Methods:
Number of desired outcomes
Theoretical Probability=
Total number of possible outcomes

From the practice questions:

#9 p. 322 Lesley needs to create a four digit password to access her
voice mail. She can repeat some of the digits, but all four cannot be
the same,
a) determine the probability that her password will be greater than
5000

b) determine the probability that the first and last digits of her
password will be 4.

c) determine the probability that the first digit of her password will
be odd and the last digit of her password will be even.
4. Rose spells out SNOOZES with letter tiles. Then she turns the tiles
face down and mixes them up. She asks Lily to arrange the tiles in a
row and turn them face up. If the row of tiles spells SNOOZES, Lily
will win. Determine the probability that Lily will win.

5. George, Maive, and Henrik are volunteering along with five other
students to be on their school’s curling team. All the students have
equal ability. Determine the probability that George, Maive, and
Henrik along with one other student will be chosen to fill the four
spots on the team.
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE EVENTS
 In an experiment, if the events A and B have no common outcomes, events
A and B are considered mutually exclusive.
 For example, if the experiment is rolling a
A B
die, and event A is rolling an even number
and event B is rolling an odd number, then
A and B are mutually exclusive because
they have no outcomes in common.

EXAMPLE 1 Determine the following probabilities:

(a) P(A) = ____________ (b) P(B) = ____________

(c) P(A ∪ B) = ____________ (d) P(A ∩ B) = ____________

 If A and B are mutually exclusive events:

P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B)
P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B)

NON-MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE EVENTS

 In an experiment, if the events A and B have common outcomes, events A
and B are considered non-mutually exclusive.
 For example, if the experiment is rolling a
A B
die, and event A is rolling an even number
and event B is rolling a number that is a
multiple of 3, then A and B are non-
mutually exclusive because they have
outcomes in common.
EXAMPLE 2 Determine the following probabilities:

(a) P(A) = ____________ (b) P(B) = ____________

(c) P(A ∪ B) = ____________ (d) P(A ∩ B) = ____________

 If A and B are NOT mutually exclusive events,

P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A ∩ B)
P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A and B)

6. Are the two events in each scenario mutually exclusive or not?

Explain.
(a) Tim rolls two 4-sided dice. He can move if the product is odd or
greater than 4. Determine the probability that he will roll a product
that is odd or greater than 4.
Product of 2 dice:

(b) Keisha rolls two 4-sided dice. Determine the probability that she
will roll a sum that is either 3 or an even number.
From the practice questions:
#3 p. 339
The probability that Maria will go to the gym in Saturday is 0.75.
The probability that she will go shopping on Saturday is 0.4.
The probability that she will do neither is 0.2.
a) Draw a Venn diagram to represent the two events.
b) Are the two events mutually exclusive?
c) Determine the probability that Maria will do at least one of these
activities on Saturday