Basic Definitions:

Event, Sample Space,

and Probabilities
Prepared by
Ingrid Yvonne A. Madrial
A set may be machines in a shop. A set may be cars in a street at a
given time.

A set is a collection of elements.

A set may be people in a concert. A set may be files in a cabinet.

 A set may also have no
elements.

Familiarity
with Sets The empty set is the set
containing no elements.

An empty set is denoted by ∅.

 • The universal set is the set
Familiarity containing everything in a
with Sets given context. We denote the
universal set by S.
 The complement of set A is the set
containing all the elements in the
universal set S that are not members
of set A.
We denote the complement of A by
Ā. The set Ā is often called ‘’not A.”

Example:
• Let the universal set S be the set of all students at a given university.
• Define A as the set of all students who own a car ( at least one car).
• The complement of A, or Ā, is thus the set of all students at the university who do not own a car.
Familiarity with Sets
• Consider two sets A and B within
the context of the same universal
set S. ( We say that A and B are
subsets of the universal set S.) . If
A and B have some elements in
common, we say they intersect.

• The intersection of A and B,

denoted A Ո B, is the set
containing all elements that are
members of both A and B.
•The Union of A and B,
denoted A U B, is the set
containing all elements that
are members of either A or
B or both.
 Example of the union
and intersection of sets
• Set A, all students at a university
who own a car.
• Set B, the set of all students at
the university who own a bicycle.
• The universal set S is the set of all
students at the university.
• And A Ո B is the intersection of A
and B—it is the set of all students
at the university who own both a
car and a bicycle.
• And A U B is the union of A and B
Set A Set B —it is the set of all students at the
university who own either a car or
a bicycle or both.
Familiarity with
Sets
• Two sets may have no intersection:
They may be disjoint. In such a case,
we say that the intersection of the two
sets is the empty set ∅.
• In symbols, when A and B are disjoint,
A Ո B = ∅.
• An example of two disjoint sets,
consider the set of all students enrolled
in a business program at a university
and all the students at the university
who are enrolled in an art program.
(Assume no student is enrolled in both
programs.) A Venn diagram of two
disjoint sets is shown below.
Terms relevant to the
computation of probability…
• An experiment is a process that leads to one of
several possible outcomes.
• An outcome of an experiment is some
observation or measurement.
• Drawing a card out of a deck of 52 cards is an
experiment.
• One outcome of the experiment may be that the
queen of diamonds is drawn.
• A single outcome of an experiment is called a
basic outcome or an elementary event. Any card
drawn from a deck is a basic outcome.
 • The sample space is the universal set S pertinent to a
given experiment. The sample space is the set of all
Terms relevant possible outcomes of an experiment.
to the • The sample space for the experiment of drawing a card
out of a deck is the set of all cards in the deck.
computation of
probability…
Terms relevant to the
computation of probability…
• The sample space for an experiment of
reading the temperature is the set of all
numbers in the range of temperatures.
Terms relevant to the
computation of probability…
• An event is a subset of a sample space. It is a set of basic
outcomes. We say that the event occurs if the
experiment gives rise to a basic outcome belonging to
the event.
• For example, the event “an ace is drawn out of a deck of
cards” is the set of the four aces within the sample space
consisting of all 52 cards. This event occurs whenever
one of the four aces (the basic outcomes) is drawn.
• The sample space for the experiment of drawing a card
out of a deck of 52 cards is shown in the figure. The
figure also shows event A, the event that an ace is
drawn.
Terms relevant to the
computation of probability…
• In this context, for a given experiment we have a
sample space with equally likely basic outcomes.
• When a card is drawn out of a well-shuffled deck,
every one of the cards (the basic outcomes) is as likely
to occur as any other. In such situations, it seems
reasonable to define the probability of an event as the
relative size of the event with respect to the size of the
sample space.
• Since a deck has 4 aces and 52 cards, the size of A is 4
and the size of the sample space is 52.
• Therefore, the probability of A is equal to 452.
Terms relevant to
the computation of
probability…
 Terms relevant to the
computation of probability…
Let’s now demonstrate the meaning of
union and intersection with the example
of drawing a card from a deck.
Let A be the event that an ace is drawn
and ♥ the event that a heart is drawn.
The sample space is shown in this Figure.
Note that the event A Ո ♥ is the event
that the card drawn is both an ace and a
heart (i.e., the ace of hearts).
The event A U ♥ is the event that the card
drawn is either an ace or a heart or both.
Terms relevant to the computation of
probability…
Basic Definitions: Event, Sample Space, and Probabilities

THE END OF PART 1 THANK YOU!