IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

8.2 Representing Probabilities: Venn Diagrams & Sample Spaces

An event either happens or does not happen. Everything other than the event happening is called the
complement of the event.

The complement of event A is denoted by A′, pronounced “A prime”. A′ is the event that “event A does
not happen”. An event and its complement are said to be mutually exclusive, which means they cannot
both happen.

Because A and A’ together include all the outcomes then:

𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐴′ ) = 1 𝑜𝑟 𝑃 (𝐴′ ) = 1 − 𝑃(𝐴) 𝑜𝑟 𝑃(𝐴) = 1 − 𝑃(𝐴′ )

Example 1: Two dice are rolled. What is the probability that the sum of the scores is greater than 2?

Combined events are events such as

• ‘today is Tuesday and it is raining’

• ’getting an A in extended Essay or TOK’

The word and for the ‘A and B’ indicate that the desired outcome is both component events happening.

The word or for the ‘A or B’ means A or B or both happening

Which is more likely when you roll a
Example 2: When a die is rolled, find the probability die once?

that the outcome is: • Getting a prime number and an

odd number
a. Odd and a prime number • Getting a prime number or an odd
b. Odd or a prime number number
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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

SOLN: a. Odd and a prime number

SOLN: b. Odd or a prime number

OR Events
When events A and B occur at the same time, then:
P(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) − 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)
This is the Additive Principle of 2 Sets

For two mutually exclusive events A and B, P(A and B) = 0.

Thus, two events are mutually exclusive iff:
P(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵)

When 3 events A, B, and C can occur at the same time, then:

P(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 ∪ 𝐶) = 𝑃(𝐴) + 𝑃(𝐵) + 𝑃(𝐶) − 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) − 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐶) − 𝑃(𝐵 ∩ 𝐶) + 𝑃(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 ∩ 𝐶)
This is the Additive Principle of 3 Sets

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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

Set Theory and Venn Diagrams

Venn diagrams allow one to visualize sets of data where there may be overlapping classifications.

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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

Example 3: Are these events mutually exclusive?

a. A: Randomly drawing a grey sock from drawer b. C: Your birthday falling on a Monday next year
B: Randomly drawing a wool sock from a drawer D: Your birthday falling on a weekend next year

Example 4: A pair of dice is tossed. Find 𝑃(𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 6).

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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

Example 5: A card is randomly selected from a standard deck of cards. What is the probability that

either a spade or a face card is selected?

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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

Further Venn Diagrams

Example 1: In a class of 32, 19 have a bicycle, 21 have a mobile phone and 16 have a laptop computer;
11 have both a bike and a phone, 12 have both a phone and a laptop, and 6 have both a bike and a
laptop. Two have none of these objects. How many people have a bike, a phone and a laptop?

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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

Example 2: Daniel has 18 toys: 12 are made of plastic and 13 are red; 2 are neither red nor plastic.
Daniel chooses a toy at random.
a. Find the probability that it is a red plastic toy.
b. If it is a red toy, find the probability that it is a plastic.

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IB – MAA SL Unit 2 & 3 Date: ________________________

c. If it is a red toy, find the probability that it is a plastic toy.

Example 3: Events A and B are such that 𝑃(𝐴) = 0.6, 𝑃(𝐵) = 0.7 and 𝑃(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 0.9. Find 𝑃(𝐵′|𝐴′).

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