Math 300 , Spring 2008, Day 9, F, Feb 15

Independence:  Read Ash pp 41-43.  You can skip "Method 2" and Prob of A before B.           
Read also p.36 (Review) Geometric Series and Finite Geometric Series. 
Read
M&M pp. 266-70, 312 (rule5), 322..

HW:  One more conditional probability, shouldn't be hard: M&M p.330-1, 4.124
Handout--show: If A and B are independent,  then so are Acand B,   A and  Bc , and  Acand Bc
Ash p. 45:  8, 11.  
    12 (2nd and 3rd can be anything. Is it the same answer as for W on the 1st and the 2nd?  See "time blindness", Day 7 .  If you don't buy the time blindness, do a tree and calculate the answer from it.)

 M&M 5th ed. p274ff. 4.23, 4.28, 4.30, 4.31, 4.27, 4.33, 4.37 and 39.  also p.330 4.123  (Some may be repeats from last semester.)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
(1) Definition: A and B are independent iff P(A and B) = P(A)·P(B)
 
Intuitive:  Event A and event B are independent if the occurrence or nonoccurence of one makes no difference to the probability of the other.
(2)   FormulaP(B|A) = P(B)
(1) and (2)  are (almost) equivalent, since  P(B|A) = P(BandA)/P(A).  (proofs, in class)

(3) By symmetry, then,  P(A|B) = P(A).

From the intuitive idea, it seems clear that  if A and B are independent then so are Acand B,   A and  Bc , and  Acand Bc
(Proofs: Handout)
Then P(B|Ac) = P(B) = P(B|A), the rest of the intuitive idea.

That was about independence of events.
For constructing models:
  we think not just of events being independent, but whole mechanisms or processesEvery event in process A being independent of any event in process B.  (e.g. Flip a coin, then draw a card from a deck)

Trees:  If two processes are independent, and can be thought of as sequential in a tree, all the branchings at the second stage will be identical, whatever the preceding result.

What's Next? , review M&M pp. 277-286 (4.3 Random variables), pp. 335-37 & 348-350 (Binomial). Ash sec. 2.2 Multinomial and Binomial distributions. (Ash does Multinomial first, and Binomial as a special case.  This approach doesn't "privilege" the binomial "successes" as much as M&M's approach did.)


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