Methods 4.

1 Probability and Venn diagrams

M4.1 Probability and Venn diagrams

Before you start Why do this?

You should be able to: Venn diagrams can be used to help work out
draw and interpret Venn diagrams probabilities.
find the probability that an event will occur.

Objective Get Ready

You will be able to use set notation to describe A bag contains 3 red, 2 blue and 6 green
events. counters. A counter is taken at random. What is
You will be able to use Venn diagrams to find the probability that the counter is:
probabilities. 1 red 2 green 3 not green
4 blue or green 5 white

Key Points
When working out probabilities from a Venn diagram:
P(A) represents the probability that the item is in set A
P(A) represents the probability that the item is not in set A
P(A)  1  P(A)
P(A  B) represents the probability that the item is in both set A and set B
P(A  B) represents the probability that the item is in set A or in set B or in both sets.

Example 1 The Venn diagram shows the integers from 4 to 12. A03

A B
5 12
7 9
4
8 10
6 11

A number is taken at random from those shown on the Venn diagram.

Find: a P(A) b P(A ) c P(A  B).

There are 9 numbers in total in the Venn diagram so 9 goes on the bottom of
a P(A)  __
5
9
the fraction.
There are 5 numbers altogether in set A so 5 goes on the top of the fraction.

b P(A )  __
4
9
There are 4 numbers that are not in set A.
Alternatively, work out 1  __
5
9

c P(A  B)  __
2
9
There are 2 numbers in both A and B.

1
 Chapter 4 Probability and Venn diagrams

Exercise 4A

D AO1 1 The Venn diagram shows the whole numbers from 1 to 12.

A B 2
1 5 3 6
11 4
9 12
7
8
10

A number is chosen at random from those shown on the Venn diagram.

Find: a P(B) b P(A  B) c P(A  B)

AO1
2 The Venn diagram shows the whole numbers from 1 to 10.

1 C D
10
2 3
8 4
5
6 7
9

A number is chosen at random from those shown on the Venn diagram.

Find: a P(D) b P(D) c P(C  D) d P(C  D)

C AO3 3 a On a Venn diagram show:

the whole numbers from 1 to 12
set E where E  {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12}
set F where F  {1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12}
b A number is chosen at random from those in the Venn diagram. Find:
i P(E) ii P(F) iii P(E  F) iv P(E  F)

B AO3 4 a Draw a Venn diagram to show:

  {integers from 10 to 20}
E  {even numbers}
M  {multiples of 5}
b A number is chosen at random from those in the Venn diagram. Find:
i P(M) ii P(E  M) iii P(E  M) iv P(E  M) v P(E  M)

A AO3 5   {integers from 1 to 20}

M  {multiples of 4}
F  {factors of 20}

A number is chosen at random from the universal set, .

Work out:
a P(M) b P(F) c P(M  F) d P(M  F) e P(M  F)

2
 Methods 4.1 Probability and Venn diagrams

Example 2 The Venn diagram shows information about the students in Year 12. A03

B  {students who take Biology}

C  {students who take Chemistry}

C B
49

17 7
44

If a student is chosen at random work out:

a P(B) b P(B  C ) c P(C  B) d P(B  C )

49  44  17  7  117 there are 117 students in Year 12,

51
a P(B)  ____ so the bottom number of each fraction will be 117.
117 44  7  51 so 51 students study Biology.

7
b P(B  C)  ____ 7 is in the intersection. This shows that 7 students
117 study Biology and Chemistry.

17
c P(C  B)  ____ There are 17 students who study Chemistry and not Biology.
117

68
d P(B  C)  ____ 17  7  44  68 so 68 students study Biology or
117 Chemistry (or both).

Exercise 4B

1 Some students were asked if they played tennis or cricket.

AO1
D

T C
3

7 2 8

The Venn diagram shows information about their answers.

A student is chosen at random. Work out:
a P(T) b P(C) c P(T  C)

3
 Chapter 4 Probability and Venn diagrams

C AO1 2 In a group of 42 people, 13 belong to a badminton club, 19 belong to a tennis club and 7 belong to
both a badminton and a tennis club.
a Draw a Venn diagram to represent this information.
A person is chosen at random from this group.
b Find the probability that this person:
i does not belong to a badminton club
ii does not belong to either a badminton or a tennis club
iii belongs to a tennis club but not a badminton club.

B AO3 3 There are 26 students in a tutor group. Of these students 11 study History, 17 study PE and 6 students
study both History and PE. A student is chosen at random. Work out the probability that this student
studies:
a History b PE c History but not PE d neither History nor PE.

AO3
4 There are 37 cars parked in a car park. 12 of the cars are red, 22 of the cars are Fords and 8 of the cars
are red Fords. One of the cars in the car park is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is:
a not red
b a red car that is not a Ford
c neither red nor a Ford?

A AO3 5 There are 29 students in a music class.

13 can play the guitar,
8 can play the piano,
10 cannot play the guitar and cannot play the piano.
One of the 29 students is chosen at random.
Work out the probability that this student can play the guitar but not the piano.

B AO3 6 There are 120 people watching a film.

68 have popcorn,
29 have popcorn and a drink,
35 have neither popcorn nor a drink.
One of these people is chosen at random. Work out the probability that this person has a drink but
does not have any popcorn.

AO3
7 In a group of 35 girls 6 wear glasses, 17 have brown hair and 2 girls have brown hair and wear glasses.
One of these girls is chosen at random. Work out the probability that she:
a has brown hair but does not wear glasses
b does not have brown hair and does not wear glasses.

4
 Methods 4.2 Compound events

M4.2 Compound events

Before you start Why do this?

You should be able to: Set notation can be used to describe the probability
add and multiply fractions. of two events occurring at the same time.

Objectives Get Ready

You will be able to use set notation to 1 A fair dice is thrown. Work out the probability of throwing:
describe compound events. a a 1 or a 2 b either an even number or a prime number.
2 Two fair dice are thrown together. The scores are added
together. Work out the probability of throwing:
a a total of 3 b a total of 7.

Key Points
Two events are mutually exclusive when they cannot occur at the same time.
For mutually exclusive events A and B:
P(A  B)  P(A)  P(B)
Two events are independent if one event does not affect the other event.
For two independent events A and B:
P(A  B)  P(A)  P(B)

Example 3 M and N are mutually exclusive events. A03

P(M)  _49 P(N )  _13
Work out P(M  N ).

P(M  N)  __49  __13 M and N are mutually exclusive events.

So use P(M  N )  P(M )  P(N )
 __49  __39

 __79

Example 4 A dice and a coin are thrown. A03

Event F is getting a 5 on the dice. Event H is getting a head on the coin.
Work out:
a P(F ) b P(H ) c P(F  H ).

a P(F )  __
1
6
Throwing a dice and throwing a coin are
b P(H )  __
1
2 independent events, since the outcome of one
event does not affect the outcome of the other
event. So use P(A  B)  P(A)  P(B)
c P(F  H )  __
1
6
 __12  __
1
12

5
 Chapter 4 Probability and Venn diagrams

Exercise 4C

C AO1 1 A bag contains 5 red, 3 green and 4 yellow counters.

Event R is getting a red counter.
Event G is getting a green counter.
Event Y is getting a yellow counter.
A counter is taken at random from the bag. Work out:

a P(R) b P(G) c P(Y)

d P(R  Y) e P(G  Y)

AO1
2 A bag contains 3 red and 4 blue counters.
A box contains 2 red and 5 blue counters.
Event A is getting a red counter from the bag.
Event B is getting a red counter from the box.
One counter is taken at random from the bag and another counter is taken at random from the box.
Work out:

a P(A) b P(B) c P(A  B)

B AO3 3 The events A and B are mutually exclusive.

Given that P(A)  _13 and P(B)  _58 work out:
a P(A) b P(A  B)

AO3
4 The events A and B are independent.
Given that P(A)  _25 and P(B)  _14 work out:

a P(B) b P(A  B)

AO3 5 The events D and E are mutually exclusive.

Given that P(D)  _25 and P(D  E )  _34 work out:

a P(D ) b P(E)

A AO3 6 P(C)  _14 , P(D)  _25 , P(C  D)  __

1
10
Are events C and D independent?
You must give a reason for your answer.

AO3
7 P(E)  _14 , P(F )  _25 , P(E  F )  __
7
10
Are events E and F mutually exclusive?
You must give a reason for your answer.

AO3
8 The event X and Y are independent.
Given that P(X)  _38 and P(X  Y)  __
9
44
work out P(Y ).

6
 Methods 4.2 Compound events

Review

P(A) represents the probability that the item is in set A.

P(A) represents the probability that the item is not in set A.
P(A)  1  P(A)
P(A  B) represents the probability that the item is in both set A and set B.
P(A  B) represents the probability that the item is in set A or in set B or in both sets.
Two events are mutually exclusive when they cannot occur at the same time.

For mutually exclusive events A and B:

P(A  B)  P(A)  P(B)
Two events are independent if one event does not affect the other event.

For two independent events A and B:

P(A  B)  P(A)  P(B)

7
 Chapter 4 Probability and Venn diagrams

Answers
Chapter 4 Exercise 4B
M4.1 Get Ready answers 1 a __
9
20
b __
10
20
c __
2
20
2 a
1 __
3
11
B T
2 __
6
11
3 __
5
11 6 7 12
4 __
8
11
5 0
17

Exercise 4A b i __
29
42
ii __
17
42
iii __
12
42
__
11 __
17
c __
5
d __
4
1 a __
4
12
b __
2
12
c __
8
12
3 a 26
b 26 26 26
4 a __
25
b __
4
c __
11
2 a __
4
10
b __
6
10
c __
1
10
d __
8
10 37 37 37
5 __
11
3 a 29

E F 6 ___
17
120
11
5
2 7 a __
15
35
b __
14
35
8 4 12 1
6 M4.2 Get Ready answers
10 3
7
1 a _13 b _56
9
2 a __
1
18
b _16
b i _12 ii _12 iii _13 iv _23
Exercise 4C
4 a
E M
1 a __
5
12
b _14 c _13
11
16 d _34 e __
7
20 12
12 15 2 a _37 b _27 c __
6
49
18 10 13
3 a _2 b __23
14 3 24
17 4 a _3 b __11
19 4 20
5 a _3 b __ 7
5 20
b i __
3
ii __
2
iii __
7
iv __
1
v __
9
11 11 11 11 11 6 Yes as _14  _25  __1
10
5 a _14 b __
14
20
c __
1
10 7 No as _4  _5  __
1 2 13
20
d __
9
20
e _15 8 P(Y)  __ 5
11