What is the probability of an event that is impossible?
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The probability of an impossible event is 0.
What is an impossible event in probability theory?
An impossible event in probability theory is an event that cannot occur under any circumstances. The event has a probability of 0, meaning there is no chance the event will take place. The probability of an event is defined as the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the total number of possible outcomes. For an impossible event, the number of favorable outcomes is zero.
What are examples of impossible events?
Dice rolls: Rolling a 7 on a standard six-sided die is impossible because the die only has faces numbered 1 through 6. There is no way to obtain a 7, so the event "rolling a 7" has probability 0.
Coin flips: Getting both heads and tails simultaneously on a single coin flip is impossible. A coin shows either heads or tails, never both at once, so the event "getting both heads and tails" has probability 0.
Card draws: Drawing a card that is both the Ace of Spades and the King of Hearts at the same time from a single draw is impossible since you can only draw one card per draw. This event has probability 0.
These examples illustrate that an impossible event corresponds to outcomes that violate the rules or constraints of the experiment's sample space, making their occurrence impossible and their probability equal to zero.
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