Question

If two events are mutually exclusive, can they occur concurrently? Explain. Yes. By definition, mutually exclusive events can occur together. No. By definition, mutually exclusive events cannot occur together. No. Two events will never occur concurrently. Yes. Any two events can occur concurrently.

Answer 1

No. By definition, mutually exclusive events cannot occur together.

Explanation:

If two events are mutually exclusive, can they not occur concurrently because by definition, mutually exclusive events cannot occur together or at the same time. This ultimately implies that the events or outcome of the sampling is disjointed.

Mathematically, if two events A and B are mutually exclusive;

`P(AnB) = 0`

From the above expression, we can deduce that the probability of the two (2) events occurring or having an intersection is zero (0).

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

From the above expression, we can deduce that the probability of either of the two (2) events occuring is the sum of the probability of each occurrence.

For example, when a fair die is tossed once, the outcomes are mutually exclusive.

P(d) = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Other examples include;

1. Tossing a coin once, you'll either get a head or a tail but not a head and a tail at the same time.

2. In cards, both a king and an ace or a king and a queen are mutually exclusive because you can't have both occurring at the same time.