Detecting traces of TNT.University of Florida researchersin the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have invented a technique to rapidly detect traces of TNT (Today, Spring 2005). The method, which involves shining a laser light on a potentially contaminated object, provides instantaneous results and gives no false positives. In this application, a false positive would occur if the laser light detects traces of TNT when, in fact, no TNT is actually present on the object. Let A be the event that the laser light detects traces of TNT. Let B be the event that the object contains no traces of TNT. The probability of a false positive is 0. Write this probability in terms of A and B using symbols such as,and |.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The probability through events of A and B is conditional probability.

P(A|B)=0

Step by step solution

01

Important formula

The formula for probability isP=favourableoutcomestotaloutcomes

02

The probability in terms of A and B using symbols such as ∪,∩ and |.

Use characters like union, intersection, and conditional probability to express these probability events A and B.

Now, let’s recognize the probability, if a laser light identifies traces of TNT, a false positive will arise in this scenario, if there is no TNT existing on the subject. Let A represents the event in which the laser light identifies traces of TNT and B represent the event in which the items have no traces of TNT.

According to the data, a probability of such a false detection is equivalent to that seen in occurrence A in view of occurrence B.

Thus,our event values are the same, this probability through events of A and B is conditional probability.

Therefore, the probability through events of A and B is conditional probability.

P(A|B)=0

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Evaluating the performance of quality inspectors. The performance of quality inspectors affects both the quality of outgoing products and the cost of the products. A product that passes inspection is assumed to meet quality standards; a product that fails inspection may be reworked, scrapped, or reinspected. Quality engineers at an electric company evaluated performances of inspectors in judging the quality of solder joints by comparing each inspector’s classifications of a set of 153 joints with the consensus evaluation of a panel of experts. The results for a particular inspector are shown in the table. One of the 153 solder joints was selected at random.

Committee’s judgment joint

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joint Rejectable

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joint Rejectable

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a. What is the probability that the inspector judged the joint to be acceptable? That the committee judged the joint to be acceptable?

b. What is the probability that both the inspector and the committee judged the joint to be acceptable? That neither judged the joint to be acceptable?

c. What is the probability that the inspector and the committee disagreed? Agreed?

An experiment results in one of three mutually exclusive events, A, B, or C. It is known that P (A)= .30, P(B)= .55 , and P(C)= .15. Find each of the following probabilities:

a. P(AB)

b.P(AC)

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d. P(BC)

e. Are B and C independent events? Explain.

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a. Identify the outcomes (sample points) of this experiment.

b. Assign reasonable probabilities to the outcomes, part a.

c. What is the probability that the selected M&M is brown (the original color)?

d. In 1960, the colors red, green, and yellow were added to brown M&Ms. What is the probability that the selected M&M is either red, green, or yellow?

e. In 1995, based on voting by American consumers, the color blue was added to the M&M mix. What is the probability that the selected M&M is not blue?

Consider the experiment depicted by the Venn diagram, with the sample space S containing five sample points. The sample points are assigned the following probabilities:

P (E1) = .20, P (E2) = .30, P (E3)= .30, P (E4) = .10, P (E5) = .10.

a. Calculate P (A), P (B), and P (AB).

b. Suppose we know that event A has occurred, so that the reduced sample space consists of the three sample points in A—namely, E1, E2, and E3. Use the formula for conditional probability to adjust the probabilities of these three sample points for the knowledge that A has occurred [i.e., P (Ei/A)]. Verify that the conditional probabilities are in the same proportion to one another as the original sample point probabilities.

c. Calculate the conditional probabilityP (E1/A)in two ways: (1) Add the adjusted (conditional) probabilities of the sample points in the intersection AB, as these represent the event that B occurs given that A has occurred; (2) use the formula for conditional probability:

P (B/A) =P (AB)P (A)

Verify that the two methods yield the same result.

d. Are events A and B independent? Why or why not?

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