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What is Probablity ?

Terminology of Probability Theory

The following terms in probability help in a better understanding of the concepts of probability.

Experiment: A trial or an operation conducted to produce an outcome is called an experiment.

Sample Space: All the possible outcomes of an experiment together constitute a sample space. For example, the sample space of tossing a coin is head and tail.

Favorable Outcome: An event that has produced the desired result or expected event is called a favorable outcome. For example, when we roll two dice, the possible/favorable outcomes of getting the sum of numbers on the two dice as 4 are (1,3), (2,2), and (3,1).

Trial: A trial denotes doing a random experiment.

Random Experiment: An experiment that has a well-defined set of outcomes is called a random experiment. For example, when we toss a coin, we know that we would get ahead or tail, but we are not sure which one will appear.

Event: The total number of outcomes of a random experiment is called an event.

Equally Likely Events: Events that have the same chances or probability of occurring are called equally likely events. The outcome of one event is independent of the other. For example, when we toss a coin, there are equal chances of getting a head or a tail.

Exhaustive Events: When the set of all outcomes of an experiment is equal to the sample space, we call it an exhaustive event.

Mutually Exclusive Events: Events that cannot happen simultaneously are called mutually exclusive events. For example, the climate can be either hot or cold. We cannot experience the same weather simultaneously.

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