Introduction Probability
Sample Space S: the collection of
all possible outcomes of a stochastic
experiment (the outcome will be
determined by chance, coincidence)
s is an outcome in S:
s S (x is an element of S)
Event A: a subset of (outcomes of)
the sample space S.
Mathematical notation: A S
The probability P(A) of an event A
can be interpreted as the relative
frequency of the event A, when we
repeat the experiment very often.
Laws of probability:
1. 0 ≤ P(A) ≤ 1: a probability is
always between 0% and 100%.
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2. P(S) = 1: the probability of all
outcomes is 1.
Finite sample space:
If 1. S consists of a finite number of
outcomes and 2. every outcome in S
is equally likely to occur,
then the probability of the event A(
S) can be computed by counting the
number of outcomes in A and S,
respectively (the Laplace definition):
P( A) 
nr. of outcomes in A  "favorable" 
=

nr. of outcomes in S 
"total" 
Complement A (or AC) of an event
A (say “not-A” or “A does not
occur”):
A is the set of all outcomes not in A.
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Complement law: P( A ) = 1 – P(A)
S
A
A
The Intersection A and B:
collection of all common outcomes
of A and B. Notation: A∩B or AB
S
A
A∩B
B
Union (A or B): A occurs or B
occurs or both occur
Notation: A B
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General addition law
P (A B) = P (A) + P (B) – P (A∩B )
Mutually exclusive (disjunct)
events A and B do not have common
outcomes: the intersection is empty,
so that P(A∩B)= 0.
Addition law for mutually
exclusive events:
P(A B) = P(A) + P(B)
S
A
B
The relative frequency as an
intuitive definition of probability:
if we repeat an experiment, under the
same conditions, n times and the
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event A occurs n(A) times, then the
probability of A can be estimated
with:
. Intuitive property of this
relative frequency (frequency ratio):
This experimental law of large
numbers cannot be proven formally.
But the relative frequency has the
same properties as the probability P.
The theoretical background of
probabilities:
the axioms of Kolmogorov
The probability P can be seen as a
function that assigns a real (non5
negative) number to every event A
P:A→R
Kolmogorov stated his axioms for
this probability measure P:
1. P(A) ≥ 0 , for every event A
(
S):
2. P(S) = 1
3. For every sequence mutually
exclusive events A1 , A2,…


P  Ai    P( Ai )
i  i
All the desirable properties of the
probability measure P can be proven,
only using the axioms, e.g.:
1. P (  ) = 0
(  is the null set or empty event)
2. If A B, then P(A) ≤ P(B)
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3. P(A B) = P(A) + P(B) –
P(A∩B)
A conditional probability P(.|B) is
also a probability measure as defined
by Kolmogorov (if P(B) > 0)
Combinatorics, the art of counting:
“Laplace”: for finite equally likely
outcomes is P(A) = #A / #S
Basic principle of counting: if an
experiment has m outcomes and for
each of these outcomes a second
experiment has n outcomes, then all
together there are mn outcomes.
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n (different) elements have
n! = n(n-1)…321 rankings
(orders, permutations).
The number of permutations of r
elements chosen out of n elements,
without replacement, is
n(n-1)…(n – r +1) = n!/(n-r)!
Permutations with replacement: nr
The number of combinations of r
elements chosen out of n elements,
without replacement, is
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the binomial coefficient (“n over r”)
Combinatorics of random samples of
size r chosen out of n elements:
Replacement?
No
Yes
n!/(n-r)!
Ordered
nr
permutations
Outcomes Not-ordered combinations
In the last case the outcomes are not
equally likely.
The number of divisions of n
elements in k distinct groups of size
n1, …, nk (n1 +…+ nk = 1) is:
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The multinomial coefficient
The probability of r red balls if we
choose at random n balls out of a
vase containing R red balls and N-R
white balls (N balls in total) is:
The hypergeometric formula
Conditional probabilities:
The conditional probability of A,
under the condition B has occurred,
is defined as:
(provided that P(B)  0)
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A conditional probability P(.|B) is
also a probability measure as defined
by Kolmogorov (if P(B) > 0)
The multiplication rule follows
from this definition::
P(A∩B) = P(A|B)  P(B)
and
P(A∩B) = P(B|A)  P(A)
Multiplication rule for 3 events (can
be extended!):
P(A∩B∩C) =
P(A)  P(B|A)  P(C|A∩B)
Consider the following situation
 The population consists of 2
parts A and A
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 We know the probability P(A)
( and P( A ) = 1 - P(A)!)
 We know P(B|A) en P(B| A )
In a Venn-diagram:
A
A∩B
A
A ∩B
B
Note that it follows from the product
law that P(A∩B) = P(B|A)P(A)
And
P( A ∩B) = P(B| A )P( A )
Law of total probability:
P(B) = P(A∩B) + P( A ∩B)
=>P(B)= P(A)P(B|A) + P( A )P(B| A )
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Bayes rule:
P( A  B )
P( A | B ) 
P( B )
P( B | A) P( A)

P ( B | A) P( A)  P( B | A) P( A)
In a “probability tree”:
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A occurs?
B occurs?
P(B|A)
P(A)
P( A )
Yes
P( B |A)
Yes
No
P(B| A )
Yes
P( B | A )
No
No
So:
P(B)= P(A)×P(B|A) + P( A )×P(B| A )
--------------------------------------------
Generalization to n mutually
exclusive parts A1,…, A n of S:
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Law of total probability/ Bayes rule
n
P ( B )   P ( Ai ) P ( Ai | B ) and
i 1
P ( A1 | B ) 
A1
P ( B | A1 ) P ( A1 )
in1 P ( B | Ai ) P ( Ai )
A2
A1∩B A2∩B
S
An
An∩B
B
A and B are called independent
when knowledge about the
occurrence of A does not influence
the probability of B (and vice versa)
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Definition
A and B are independent 
P(A∩B) = P(A)×P(B)
The independence of A en B implies,
for example, that
P(B|A) = P(B) and P(A|B) = P(A)
Three events A, B and C are
independent iff.
P(A∩B∩C) = P(A)×P(B)×P(C)
Pair wise
P(A∩B) = P(A)×P(B)
indepenP(A∩C) = P(A)×P(C)
dence
P(B∩C) = P(B)×P(C)
}
This definition is extendable to n
independent events.
Sometimes we use the definition to
proof the independence, but usually
we can assume independence,
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because of the nature of a situation
and use the formulas above.
When 2 experiments can be assumed
independent, then 2 events with
respect to either of the experiments
are independent.
Bernoulli trials are repeated
independent experiments with only
two outcomes “success” and
“failure” (probabilities p and 1-p )
If we repeat the Bernoulli trials until
the first success occurs, we find the
geometrical formula:
P(first success = kth trial)= (1-p)k-1p
this formula applies for all k = 1, 2,...
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