Statistics and Probability Glossary
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Addition Rule
The rule of addition applies to the following situation. We have two events from
the same sample space, and we want to know the probability that either event
occurs.
Rule of Addition If events A and B come
from the same sample space, the probability that event A and/or event B occur
is equal to the probability that event A occurs plus the probability that event
B occurs minus the probability that both events A and B occur.
P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A ∩ B)
Note: Invoking the fact that P( A ∩ B ) = P( A )P( B | A ), the Addition Rule can also be expressed as
P(A ∪
B)
= P(A) + P(B) - P(A)P( B | A )
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