Question

Three coins are tossed once. Let A denote the event ‘three heads show”, B denote the event “two heads and one tail show”. C denote the event “three tails show” and D denote the event ‘a head shows on the first coin”. Which events are

(i) mutually exclusive? (ii) simple? (iii) compound?

Answer 1

When three coins are tossed, the sample space is given by

S = {HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT, THH, THT, TTH, TTT}

Accordingly,

A = {HHH}

B = {HHT, HTH, THH}

C = {TTT}

D = {HHH, HHT, HTH, HTT}

We now observe that

A ∩ B =Φ, A ∩ C =Φ, A ∩ D = {HHH} ≠ Φ

B ∩ C =Φ, B ∩ D = {HHT, {HTH} ≠ Φ

C ∩ D = Φ

(i) Event A and B; event A and C; event B and C; and event C and D are all mutually exclusive.

(ii) If an event has only one sample point of a sample space, it is called a simple event. Thus, A and C are simple events.

(iii) If an event has more than one sample point of a sample space, it is called a compound event. Thus, B and D are compound events.