An Introduction to Mathematical Statistics and Its Applications (6th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-13411-421-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-13411-421-7

Chapter 2 Probability - 2.4 Conditional Probability - Questions - Page 38: 12

Answer

3/7.

Work Step by Step

There are ${{2}^{3}}=8$ possible outcomes after tossing a fair coin fairly 3 times. The sample space is: $S=\{HHH,HHT,HTH,HTT,THH,THT,TTH,TTT\}$ Let A be the event that at least two heads will occur and B be the even that at most two heads have occurred. We see that three of the sample outcomes in S constitute the event A: $A=\{HHH,HHT,HTH,THH\}$ \[P(A)=\frac{4}{8}\] We see that seven of the sample outcomes in S constitute the event B: $B=\{HHT,HTH,HTT,THH,THT,TTH,TTT\}$ \[P(B)=\frac{7}{8}\] $A\cap B=\{HHT,HTH,THH\}$ \[P(A\cap B)=\frac{3}{8}\] We have to find the probability of that at least two heads will occur given that at most two heads have occurred: \[\begin{align} & P(A|B)=\frac{P(A\cap B)}{P(B)} \\ & P(A|B)=\frac{{}^{3}/{}_{8}}{{}^{7}/{}_{8}} \\ & P(A|B)=\frac{3}{7} \\ \end{align}\]
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