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Independent Events

If the occurrence of one event has no effect on the probability of another event, the two events are independent events .

Example :

Consider the experiment of tossing a coin twice.  The sample space for the experiment is { ( H,H ) , ( H,T ) , ( T,H ) , ( T,T ) } .  Let A be the event that a tail is obtained on the first toss and B be the event that a head is obtained on the second toss. 

     A = { ( T,H ) , ( T,T ) } and B = { ( H,H ) , ( T,H ) }

A and B are not mutually exclusive because A B = { ( T,H ) } but they are independent because obtaining a tail on the first toss does not affect the outcome of the second toss.

     P ( A ) = 2 4 = 1 2 P ( B ) = 2 4 = 1 2 P ( A B ) = P ( A ) P ( B ) = 1 2 1 2 = 1 4

Two events are independent if and only if P ( A B ) = P ( A ) P ( B ) .

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