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STA02A2 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of the Statistics 2A course covers the fundamentals of probability, including its historical development, key terminology, and various probability measures. It distinguishes between probability and statistics, defines essential concepts such as sample spaces, events, and the axioms of probability, and introduces methods for calculating probabilities. The chapter also includes exercises to reinforce understanding of these concepts.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
39 views25 pages

STA02A2 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of the Statistics 2A course covers the fundamentals of probability, including its historical development, key terminology, and various probability measures. It distinguishes between probability and statistics, defines essential concepts such as sample spaces, events, and the axioms of probability, and introduces methods for calculating probabilities. The chapter also includes exercises to reinforce understanding of these concepts.

Uploaded by

khalushih
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

CHAPTER 1: Probability

Lecture notes sections Content from corresponding textbook sections


1. Introduction 1.1. Introduction
2. Notation and terminology 1.2. Sample spaces
1.5. Conditional probability
1.6. Independence
3. Probability measures 1.2. Sample spaces
1.3. Probability measures
4. Counting methods 1.4. Computing probabilities: Counting methods

1. Introduction
Probability refers to the study of randomness and uncertainty. In any situation where a number of different
outcomes may occur, the theory of probability provides methods for quantifying the chance or likelihood
associated with the various outcomes. The idea of probability, chance, or randomness is quite old, but its
axiomatization in mathematical terms occurred relatively recently. The mathematical theory of probability has
been applied to many problems in different disciplines, such as genetics, kinetic theory of gases, computer science,
engineering, operations research, actuarial science, social science, marketing, etc.

A little bit of history


Probability theory has its origin in gambling. A few games of chance problems were solved by Italian
mathematicians in the 15th and 16th century, but the theory of probability was not formalized until 1654. It all
started with the 17th century French writer (and gambler), the Chevalier de Méré. In a certain dice game, he
consistently lost money, even though he calculated the odds in favour of winning the game. Initially he played a
game where he would bet on getting at least one six on four rolls of a die. With the probability of getting a six on
one roll of the die equal to 16 , he believed that the chance of getting one six in four rolls of the die is 64 . Although

this reasoning is faulty, he still made money betting on this game. Given his success in this game, he modified
the game by betting on getting at least one double six in 24 rolls of two dice. Since the probability of getting a
1
pair of sixes in one roll of two dice is 36 , he thought that the probability of getting a pair of sixes in 24 rolls of
24
two dice is 36 . He ultimately lost a lot of money on this game. He turned to his friend Blaise Pascal to explain
why he kept losing a game that had such favourable odds. Pascal liaised with Pierre de Fermat and the two of
them laid out the fundamental principles of probability theory for the first time.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Since then, the theory of probability developed rapidly and was applied to areas other than gambling, such as
demography, physics, engineering, and so on. In 1933, the Russian mathematician Andrei Kolmogorov,
established the modern axiomatic foundation of probability theory. He showed that the behaviour of all
probabilities is based on three simple axioms, which is still used today in probability theory.

Probability vs. statistics


Probability is a theoretical branch of mathematics that deals with predicting the chance or likelihood of future
events. Statistics is an applied branch of mathematics that deals with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and
presentation of past events. In statistics, fundamental theories are obtained from probability theory. It is therefore
important to understand probability theory to fully understand the theory of statistics.

2. Notation and Terminology


This section defines the terminology used in probability theory. Probabilities can be represented using Venn
diagrams, formulae, contingency tables, and tree diagrams.

Random experiment
A random experiment is a procedure that results in an uncertain outcome.

Sample space
The sample space is the set of all possible outcomes of a random experiment. The sample space is denoted by Ω
and an element of Ω is denoted by ω. For example:
➢ A commuter passes through three traffic lights and either stops (s) or continues (c). The sample space is
the set of classifications:
 = ccc, ccs, css, csc, sss, ssc, scc, scs

➢ The sample space of the number of jobs in a print queue of a company is all the nonnegative integers:
 = 0,1, 2, 
➢ The sample space of the length of time between successive earthquakes in a particular region that are
greater than a certain magnitude is the set of all nonnegative real number:
 = t | t  0

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Events
An event is a subspace of the sample space. The certain event is an event that is sure to occur. The impossible
event is an event that has no chance of occurring. An elementary event is an event that consists of only one
outcome of the sample space. The empty set is the set that does not contain any of the outcomes of the sample
space and is denoted by  =   . Events are typically denoted with uppercase letters.

For example, let A = the commuter stops at the first light, then A = sss, ssc, scc, scs .

Representing probabilities
Venn diagrams are used to visually represent events and how they co-exist in the sample space. The sample space
is represented by a rectangular box and circles are typically used to describe the events. The sizes of the circles
do not necessarily correspond to the sizes of the probabilities. Probability calculations can become difficult using
Venn diagrams. These diagrams are best used to visualise events rather than to calculate probabilities of events.
A contingency table classifies the outcomes (events) of one variable in rows and the other variable in columns. It
can show frequency counts or probabilities. Tree diagrams are discussed in Section 3.3 of the lecture notes.

Complement of an event
The set of all outcomes in the sample space excluding the event, is referred to as the complement of the event.
For an event A, its complement is Ac = A = i : i  A . Note: A c is the main notation used in the textbook, and

A is the main notation used in the notes. Both forms of notation are correct.

For example, let A = the commuter stops at the first light, therefore A = the commuter continues at the first light,
then A = ccc, ccs, css, csc .

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Union of events
Union refers to the combination of events. The union of two events A and B is denoted by A  B and contains
the outcomes of event A, or the outcomes of event B, or the outcomes of both A and B, i.e., either A or B or both

events occurred. The union of events A1 , A2 , A3 , is denoted in set notation as Ai =  :   Ai , for some i .
i =1

Intersection of events
Intersection refers to where events occur together. The intersection of two events A and B is denoted by A  B
and describes all the outcomes that are common to both A and B, i.e., both A and B occurred. The intersection of

A1 , A2 , A3 , events is denoted in set notation as Ai =  :   Ai , for all i .
i =1

Disjoint/mutually exclusive events


Two events A and B are disjoint/mutually exclusive if the occurrence of one event means that the other event
cannot occur. The intersection of mutually exclusive events A and B yields the empty set: A  B =   =  . The
events A1 , A2 , A3 , are pairwise disjoint if no outcome ω is in more than one Ai , i.e., Ai  Aj =  for i  j .

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Exhaustive events
Events are exhaustive if they fill up the sample space, i.e., the union of events is the sample space.

Partitioning
Events that are mutually exclusive and exhaustive form a partitioning of the sample space.

Subset/containment
If an event A is contained within an event B, all elements of A are also elements of B, but not necessarily vice
versa. Containment is denoted in set notation as follows: A  B  i  A  i  B .

Equality
If an event A is equal to an event B, all elements of A are also elements of B, and all elements of B are also
elements of A. Equality is denoted in set notation as follows: A = B  A  B and B  A .

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Exercise 1
1) Consider the following contingency table showing the rate of absenteeism of 400 employees by their smoking
status.
Smoking status
Smokers (S) Non-smokers (N)
Absenteeism Less than 10 days (L) 34 260
10 or more days (M) 78 28

Which of the following statements is/are true?


a) L and M are mutually exclusive events.

b) S and N form a partition.

c) M and S are exhaustive events.

2) A South African wine club has classified its last 200 customers’ orders according to the criteria.
Age of customer
Under 30 30 to <50 50 and over
Type of wine bought South African 99 28 16
French 3 1 18
German 15 3 9
Other 2 5 1

Which of the following statements is/are true?


a) Age categories “under 30” and “30 to < 50” and “ >50 ” are exhaustive events.

b) Type of wine and age of customer are mutually exclusive events.

c) Type of wine and age of customer form a partitioning.

d) Age category “under 30” and “30 to < 50” are mutually exclusive events.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

3. Probability Measures
This section defines basic laws of set theory, and the axioms and laws of probability. The following
properties/rules of probability measures are consequences of the axioms of probabilities.

3.1 Laws of set theory


Commutative laws
A  B = B  A and A  B = B  A
Associative laws
( A  B )  C = A  ( B  C ) and ( A  B )  C = A  ( B  C )
Distributive laws
( A  B)  C = ( A  C )  ( B  C ) and ( A  B )  C = ( A  C )  ( B  C )

Exercise 2
1) Prove that ( A  B)  C = ( A  C )  ( B  C ) using:

a. Venn diagrams.
( A  B)  C

( A  C)  ( B  C)

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

b. Formal proof with set theory notation.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

3.2 Axioms of probability


A probability measure on Ω is a function P from subsets of Ω to real numbers that satisfies the following axioms:
1. P (  ) = 1

2. If A   , then P ( A)  0 , therefore 0  P ( A)  1

3. If A1 and A2 are disjoint, then P ( A1  A2 ) = P ( A1 ) + P ( A2 )

  
More generally, if A1 , A2 , A3 , are mutually disjoint, then P  Ai  =  P ( Ai )
 i =1  i =1

3.3 Probability rules


Probabilities are classified into three different types: a marginal probability is the probability that a single event
A occurs; a joint probability is the probability that both events A and B occur; a conditional probability is the
probability that event A occurs, given that event B already occurred.

Complement rule

P ( A ) = 1 − P ( A)

Proof/Derivation:
✓ Events A and A are disjoint, and A  A =  , i.e., they form a partitioning of the sample space

✓ From Axiom 1 if follows that P ( A  A ) = P (  ) = 1

✓ From Axiom 3 it follows that P ( A  A ) = P ( A ) + P ( A )

✓ Therefore, P ( A ) + P ( A ) = 1  P ( A ) = 1 − P ( A )

Probability of an empty set


P ( ) = 0

Proof/Derivation:

( )
✓ Since  = c  P ( ) = P c = 1 − P (  ) = 1 − 1 = 0 .

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Probabilities of subsets
If A  B , then P ( A)  P ( B )

Proof/Derivation:

✓ If A  B , B can be written as the union of two disjoint sets, namely B = A  ( B  A )

✓ From Axiom 3 it follows that P ( B ) = P ( A ) + P ( B  A )

✓ Therefore, P ( A ) = P ( B ) − P ( B  A )  P ( B )

Addition law
P ( A  B ) = P ( A) + P ( B ) − P ( A  B )

Proof/Derivation:
✓ For two events A and B the following equations are true:
A B = A B + A B + A  B A = A B + A B B = A B + A  B

✓ Therefore P ( A ) +P ( B ) = P ( A  B ) + P ( A  B ) + P ( A  B ) + P ( A  B )

 P ( A ) +P ( B ) =  P ( A  B ) + P ( A  B ) + P ( A  B )  + P ( A  B )
 P ( A ) +P ( B ) = P ( A  B ) + P ( A  B )
 P ( A  B ) = P ( A ) +P ( B ) − P ( A  B )

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

De Morgan’s laws
De Morgan’s first and second law relate the intersection and union of events by complements.
✓ First law: A  B = A  B

✓ Second law: A  B = A  B

Exercise 3
1) Prove De Morgan’s first law using containment of events.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

2) Let A and B be two evens defined on a sample space Ω such that P ( A) = 0.3 , P ( B ) = 0.5 and P ( A  B ) = 0.7.

Use probability rules/laws to find:


a. P ( A  B )

b. P ( A  B )

c. P ( A  B )

3) Let A and B be two evens defined on a sample space Ω such that P ( A) = 0.7 , P ( A  B ) = 0.4 and

P ( A  B ) = 0.2 Calculate P( A  B ) using a contingency table.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Conditional probability
Let A and B be two events with P ( B )  0 . The conditional probability of A given B is defined as:

P ( A  B)
P ( A | B) =
P ( B)

The idea behind this definition is that, if we know that event B occurred, the relevant sample space becomes B
rather than Ω, and the conditional probability is a probability measure on B. Note that P ( A | B )  P ( B | A) .

Exercise 4
Let P ( A) = 0.6 , P ( B ) = 0.4 and P ( A  B ) = 0.3 . Find P ( A | B ) and P ( B | A) using:

1) The conditional probability formula.

2) A contingency table.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Multiplication law
The multiplication law is derived from the formulation of a conditional probability and expresses the probability
of the intersection of two events in terms of a marginal and a conditional probability.

P ( A  B)
P ( A | B) =
P ( B)
 P ( A  B) = P ( A | B) P ( B) = P ( B) P ( A | B)

P ( B  A)
P ( B | A) =
P ( A)
 P ( A  B ) = P ( B | A) P ( A) = P ( A) P ( B | A)

Exercise 5
A batch of 20 parts contains 4 defective parts. Two parts are chosen one at a time without replacement. Let D1 =
the first part is defective, and D2 = the second part is defective.

1) Calculate the probability that both parts selected are defective.

2) Calculate the probability that at least one of the two parts selected is defective.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Law of total probability


The law of total probability is a useful tool for computing probabilities, specifically in situations where it is
difficult to find P ( A) directly, but easy to find conditional probabilities. Consider the following Venn diagram:

It is clear that the four Bi’s form a partitioning of the sample space, and A consists of the four respective
intersections with the four Bi’s. If the marginal and conditional probabilities related to the four Bi’s are known, it
is easy to calculate the probability of event A as the sum of the four conditional probabilities of A | Bi , weighted

by the respective marginal probabilities of Bi. This property is known as the law of total probability.

Bi =  and Bi  B j =  for all i  j , with P ( Bi )  0 for all i. Then, for any


n
Let B1 , B2 , , Bn be such that i =1

event A: P ( A ) =  i =1 P ( A | Bi ) P ( Bi )
n

Proof/Derivation:

P ( A) = P ( A   ) = P A  ( ( n
i =1
Bi )) = P ( n
i =1
A  Bi )
Since the events A  Bi are disjoint for all i, P ( n
i =1 )
A  Bi =  i =1 P ( A  Bi ) =  i =1 P ( A | Bi ) P ( Bi )
n n

Exercise 6
A batch of 20 parts contains 4 defective parts. Two parts are chosen one at a time without replacement. Let D1 =
the first part is defective, and D2 = the second part is defective. Calculate the probability that the second part
selected is defective.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Bayes’ Rule
Bayes’ Theorem was developed by Reverend Thomas Bayes in the 18th century to revise probability calculations
in light of new information and calculate posterior probabilities. This theorem is a special application of
conditional probabilities and makes use of the law of total probability. It can be seen as an “inverse” problem,
where we are given the “effect” and must calculate the “cause”.

Bi =  and Bi  B j =  for all i  j , with P ( Bi )  0 for all i. Then:


n
Let B1 , B2 , , Bn be such that i =1

P ( A | Bj ) P ( Bj )
P ( B j | A) =
 P ( A | Bi ) P ( Bi )
n
i =1

The proof is left as an exercise.

The tree diagram


If an experiment consists of several stages, a tree diagram is useful to visualise probabilities at the different stages,
where the possible outcomes are represented by the branches of the tree. The first level consists of the
marginal/unconditional probabilities and subsequent levels consist of the conditional probabilities. From the
multiplication rule, the products of the respective marginal and conditional probabilities yield the intersection
probabilities of the events.

For two events A and B the tree diagram is structured as follows:

All the marginal probabilities add up to one. For each conditioning event, all the conditional probabilities add up
to one. All the intersection probabilities add up to one.
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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Exercise 7
In a manufacturing plant two machines A and B are used to manufacture a mechanical part. Machine A is used
60% of the time, and machine B is used 40% of the time. The probability that machine A produces a defective
part is 0.1, while machine B has a 15% chance of producing a defective part.
1) Construct a tree diagram to represent the given probabilities.

2) What is the probability that a randomly selected part was manufactured by machine A and it was good?

3) What proportion of parts is not defective?

4) A randomly selected part is tested and found to be defective. What is the probability that it was produced by
machine B?

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Statistical independence
Two events are statistically independent if the occurrence of one does not change the probability of the next one
occurring, that is P ( A | B ) = P ( A) and P ( B | A) = P ( B ) . If events A and B are independent, then the probability

of the intersection between A and B is equal to the product of the two marginal probabilities. Therefore, if events
A and B are statistically independent it follows from the multiplication law that:
P ( A  B ) = P ( A | B ) P ( B ) = P ( A) P ( B )

Formally, events A and B are independent  P ( A  B ) = P ( A) P ( B ) .

Exercise 8
A device consists of three independent components. The probabilities of the three components functioning
correctly are 0.96, 0.92 and 0.95, respectively. The device can only function properly if all three components
function correctly. What is the probability that the device will not function properly?

4. Counting Methods
Probabilities are easy to compute for finite sample spaces. If  = 1 , 2 , N  and P (i ) = pi , then the

probability of an event A is the sum of the probabilities of the i that constitute A:

P ( A) =  P ( ) =  i pi
i:i A i: i A

If Ω consists of N elements, and all elements are equally likely, then P (i ) = 1
N . Therefore, the probability of any

1 number of mutually exclusive elements in A


event A is: P ( A) =  P ( ) =  i
N
=
number of elements in 
i:
 
i A i: i A

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Consider a game where a fair coin is tossed twice. Therefore, the sample space is  = hh, ht , th, tt . Let A denote

the event that at least one coin landed on heads. The A = hh, ht , th and P ( A) = 34 . This probability can be

directly calculated from the formula above since each outcome of the sample space is equally likely. If we count
the number of times the coin lands on heads in two tosses of the coin, then the sample space is  = 0,1, 2 . In

applying the formula above, P ( A) = 23  34 , which is not the correct probability of the event. This is because the

elements in the sample space of the second experiment are not equally likely. If the number of elements of a
sample space is easy to write out and count, it is easy to calculate the probabilities of events. However, if the
sample space consists of many outcomes, we use counting methods to determine the total number of elements in
the sample space and in subsets of the sample space.

4.1 Two basic counting principles


The addition principle
Consider a random experiment consisting of m sets of objects. If there are n1 different objects in the first set, n2

different objects in the second set, …, nm different objects in the mth set, and if the different sets are disjoint, then

the total number of ways to select an object from one of the m sets is n1 + n2 + + nm , i.e., the total number of

distinct objects.

Example
A total of 18 students are registered for Statistics and 12 students registered for Computer Science. If none of the
students are registered for both modules, then there are 18 + 12 = 30 different students. If 7 students are registered
for both modules, then the groups are no longer disjoint, but we can create disjoint sets consisting of students
registered for “Statistics only” (namely 18 – 7 = 11 students), “Computer Science only” (namely 12 – 7 = 5
students) and “both modules” (7 students). Therefore, there are 11 + 5 + 7 = 23 different students.

The multiplication principle


Suppose an experiment can be broken into p successive (ordered) stages, with n1 outcomes in the first stage, n2

outcomes in the second stage, …, and n p outcomes in the pth stage. If the number of outcomes at each stage is

independent of the choices in the previous stages and if the composite outcomes are all distinct, then the
experiment has n1  n2   n p different composite outcomes.

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Example
There are 5 different Statistics books, 6 different Mathematics books, and 8 different Computer Science books on
a bookshelf. A student selects 2 books at random from different subject areas. How many different ways are there
to select an (unordered) pair of 2 books from different subject areas? Then by the multiplication principle there
are 5 × 6 = 30 ways to select one Statistics and one Mathematics book, 5 × 8 = 40 ways to select one Statistics
and one Computer Science book, and 6 × 8 = 48 ways to select one Mathematics and one Computer Science book.
These three types of selections are distinct, and so by the addition principle there are 30 + 40 + 48 = 118 ways in
total.

Example
An 8-bit binary number consists of a sequence of 8 binary digits, i.e., 0’s and 1’s only. The total number of 8-bit
binary numbers is equal to 2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2 = 28 = 256 .

4.2 Simple arrangements and selections


Permutations
A permutation of n distinct objects is an ordered arrangement of the objects, without replacement. The total
number of ways to order all n objects is n ! = n  ( n − 1)  ( n − 1)   3  2 1 , termed “n factorial”.

Consider a set of n distinct objects. A sample of size r is selected from the n objects where duplication is not
allowed, and the samples are ordered, i.e., order is important. The first object can be chosen in n ways, the second
object can be chosen in n – 1 ways, the third object can be chosen in n – 2 ways, …, the rth object can be selected

in n – r + 1 ways, so there are n ( n − 1)( n − 2 ) ( n − r + 1) different samples. This is known as the permutation of
n!
r objects out of n, termed “n permutation r”, and is expressed in terms of factorial notation as P ( n, r ) = .
( n − r )!

Example
The total number of different 5-letter “words” with no repeated letters that can be formed from the 26-letter
alphabet is P ( 26,5) = 7893600 .

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Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Combinations
Consider a set of n distinct objects. A sample of size r is selected from the n objects where duplication is not
allowed, and the samples are not ordered, i.e., order is not important. This is referred to as a combination, which
is essentially a permutation where the duplicate subsets are removed. Since there is r! ways to order a sample of
P ( n, r ) n! n
size r, the number of unordered samples is = = C ( n, r ) =   , termed “n combination r”.
r! ( n − r ) !r ! r 

n
The numbers   are called binomial coefficients because of their role in the binomial expansion
r 
n
 n  k n−k n
n
( + )  
= ( + ) = = 
n n
a b a b . If a b 2 , this expression reduces to 2   , which is the total number of
k =0  k  k =0  k 

subsets of size k that can be selected from n objects, for k = 0, 1, 2, …., n.

n  n 
Note that   =   , since selecting r out of n is the same as selecting the remaining n – r out of n.
r  n−r

Consider an experiment where a sample of m objects is selected from n objects without replacement, and order is
not important. The n objects consist of r objects of type X and (n – r) objects of type Y. For k  r , let event A be
the total number of ways to select k objects of type X and (m – k) objects of type Y. Therefore, A can occur in
 r  n − n 
   ways, and P ( A) is the ratio of the number of ways A can occur to the total number of outcomes,
 k  m − k 
namely:
 r  n − r 
  
k m−k
P ( A) =  
n
 
m

Example
Ten equally qualified people apply to be part of a committee consisting of four people. There are 4 female and 6
10 
male applicants. The total number of ways to select the committee with no restriction is   = 210 . The total
4
 4  6 
number of ways to select the committee consisting of only one female is    = 80 .
 1  3 

21
Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

5. Arrangements and selections with repetition


5.1 Restricted repetition
Consider an experiment where n objects must be grouped into r classes with ni objects in the ith class, for
r
i = 1, 2, r and n i =1
i = n . In this experiment we essentially arrange all n objects of the r different types, where

r  n , such that there is repetition of identical objects within each class. The repetition is restricted since each
 n  n!
class has a set number of identical objects. The total number of ways to do this is  = .
 n1n2 nr  n1 !n2 ! nr !
These numbers are called multinomial coefficients and occur in the expansion:
n
 n  n1 n2
( x1 + x2 + + xr ) =  
n
x x xrnr
k = 0  n1n2 nr  1 2
r
where the sum is over all nonnegative integers n1 , n1 , , nr such that n
i =1
i = n.

Proof/Derivation:
n
✓ There are   ways to choose/arrange the objects from the first class.
 n1 

 n − n1 
✓ There are   ways to choose/arrange the objects from the second class.
 n2 
✓ Continue in this manner for all classes.
✓ Then, by the multiplication principle, the total number of choices/arrangements is:
 n   n  n − n1   n − n1 − n2 − nr −1 
  =     
 n1n2 nr   n1  n2   nr 

= 
n!  ( n − n1 )!   ( n − n1 − n2 − nr −1 ) ! 

   
 ( n − n1 ) !n1 !  ( n − n1 − n2 ) !n2 !   0!nr ! 
n!
=
n1 !n2 ! nr !

22
Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Example
A committee of seven members is to be divided into three subcommittees of size three, two and two. The number
 7  7!
of ways to do this is  = = 210 .
 3 2 2  3!2!2!

Example
How many arrangements (“words”) are possible using all the letters from MISSISSIPPI. In this 11-letter word
there is 1 M, 4 I’s, 4 S’s, and 2 P’s. Therefore, the total number of “words” that we can create with all 11 letters
 11  11!
is  = = 34650 .
1 4 4 2  1!4!4!2!

5.2 Unlimited repetition


Consider an experiment where r objects are chosen with repetition from n types of objects, where there are at
 r + n − 1
least r objects of each type available. The total number of ways to do this is  .
 r 

Example
How many ways can we select two hot dogs from three varieties of hot dog, where there are at least two of each
variety available to choose from? In this example, r = 2 and n = 3. The number of possible subs of two hot dogs
 2 + 3 − 1  4 
consisting of any of the three varieties is   =   = 6.
 2   2

Example
How many ways are there to fill a box with a dozen doughnuts chosen from five different varieties such that at
least one doughnut of each variety is picked? In this example we must first select one doughnut from each variety
and then select the remaining seven doughnuts any way we want, i.e., r = 7 and n = 5. Then the total number of
 7 + 5 − 1 11
ways to fill the box is   =   = 330 .
 7  7

23
Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

Exercise 9
1) A developer of a new subdivision offers a prospective home buyer a choice of four designs, three different
heating options, a garage or a carport, and a patio or a screened porch. How many different plans available to
the buyer?

2) How many 4-digit pin numbers are possible where duplication is allowed?

3) What is the probability that a 4-digit pin starts with the number 5, and has no duplicated numbers?

4) How many distinct words that can be form from all the letters in the word “WORD”?

5) In how many ways can you select a sample of two objects from the set {1, 2, 3, 4}?

24
Chapter 1 Statistics 2A STA02A2

6) Five accounts are randomly sampled without replacement from a box of forty accounts. The box contains thirty
accounts that have a debit balance. What is the probability of selecting at least four account with a credit
balance?

7) How many words that can be formed with the letters in the word “STATISTICIAN”?

8) How many ways are there to pick a collection of exactly ten Smarties from a jar with red, blue and purple
Smarties, such that there is at most five red Smarties in the selection? Hint: use the complement rule.

25

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