Probability

This course is a part of AP®︎ Statistics, a 17-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

This unit on probability covers how to use simulations to calculate experimental probabilities and a variety of other methods (the addition rule, the multiplication rule, conditional probability) for calculating probability. Later, we'll use our understanding of probability to answer statistical questions.

This course contains 4 segments:

Randomness, probability, and simulation

The probability of an event gives us an idea of how often that event will occur in a long series of trials. We'll learn how to set up and carry out simulations to estimate theoretical probability using experimental probability.

Addition rule

The addition rule says that we can find the probably of one event or another event happening by adding their probabilities, but we have to be careful and subtract the overlapping probability of both events happening at the same time.

Multiplication rule

The multiplication rule says that we can multiply the probabilities of independent events to find the probably of all of the events happening. When events aren't independent, we just have to change the probability of subsequent events. We'll learn how to find the probability of getting three heads in a row when tossing a coin, or drawing three red cards in a row from a deck of cards.

Conditional probability

Conditional probability is the likelihood of some event occurring given some other event has occurred. We'll learn how to calculate conditional probability intuitively and with a formula called Bayes' theorem, and then we'll use probability to determine if two events are independent.