Question

The events A and B are mutually exclusive. If P(A) = 0.2 and P(B) = 0.4, what is P(A or B)?

Round your answer to two decimal places.

Answer 1

If events A and B are mutually exclusive, that means they cannot happen at the same time. So, to calculate the probability of either event A or event B happening, we can simply add their probabilities.

P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B)

However, since events A and B are mutually exclusive, we need to subtract the probability of their intersection (P(A and B)) from the sum:

P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A and B)

But, since events A and B are mutually exclusive, their intersection is empty, so P(A and B) = 0:

P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A and B)
P(A or B) = 0.2 + 0.4 - 0
P(A or B) = 0.6

Therefore, the probability of either event A or event B happening is 0.6.