IBMaths: AI HLDPRevision Notes4. Statistics & Probability4.4 Probability4.4.2 Conditional Probability

Conditional Probability (DP IB Maths: AI HL)

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Conditional Probability

What is conditional probability?

Conditional probability is where the probability of an event happening can vary depending on the outcome of a prior event
The event A happening given that event B has happened is denoted A|B
A common example of conditional probability involves selecting multiple objects from a bag without replacement

The probability of selecting a certain item changes depending on what was selected before

This is because the total number of items will change as they are not replaced once they have been selected

How do I calculate conditional probabilities?

Some conditional probabilities can be calculated by using counting outcomes
- Probabilities without replacement can be calculated like this
- For example: There are 10 balls in a bag, 6 of them are red, two of them are selected without replacement
  - To find the probability that the second ball selected is red given that the first one is red count how many balls are left:
  - A red one has already been selected so there are 9 balls left and 5 are red so the probability is $\frac{5}{9}$
You can use sample space diagrams to find the probability of A given B:
- reduce your sample space to just include outcomes for event B
- find the proportion that also contains outcomes for event A
There is a formula for conditional probability that you can use
- $P (A | B) = \frac{P (A \cap B)}{P (B)}$
- This is given in the formula booklet
- This can be rearranged to give $P (A \cap B) = P (B) P (A| B)$

Worked example

In a class of 30 students: 19 students have a dog, 17 students have a cat and 11 have both a dog and a cat. One student is selected at random.

Find the probability that the student has a dog.

4-3-2-ib-ai-sl-conditional-prob-a-we-solution

Find the probability that the student has a dog given that they have a cat.

4-3-2-ib-ai-sl-conditional-prob-b-we-solution

Find the probability that the student has a cat given that they have a dog.

4-3-2-ib-ai-sl-conditional-prob-c-we-solution

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Author: Dan

Dan graduated from the University of Oxford with a First class degree in mathematics. As well as teaching maths for over 8 years, Dan has marked a range of exams for Edexcel, tutored students and taught A Level Accounting. Dan has a keen interest in statistics and probability and their real-life applications.