odds for one event happening: 1/118 odds for second event happening: 1/76 what is odds of either event happeni

Question

odds for one event happening: 1/118

odds for second event happening: 1/76

what is odds of either event happening

FIRST ANSWER 10 POINTS (correct answer)

one engineering and one computer science and we're too lazy to figure this out

Answer 1

assuming that the two events are not related (the second event does not require that the first event happens first), the probability would be:

event 1: 1/118 = 76/8968
event 2: 1/76 = 118/8968
either event happening = (118+76)/8968
= 194/8968
or 2.16324%

Answer 2

vikram b is correct. You cant simply add them because that would be counting the possibility of getting both results twice. However, vikrams coin example is bad, because the probability of getting a head or a tail after flipping a coin twice actually is 100% (the coin MUST be one or the other so the odds of either is 1/1.)

Basically, the ambiguity lies in how many events you are talking about. If it is just one event, then adding them together would be correct. (IE if the probabilities represented spaces on a large spinning wheel that was spun once.) . If it is two seperate events, (two wheels or two spins of one wheel) then vikram B's method is right as I explain in the example below. Based o nthe wording of the question I would lean towards Vikrams answer.

Say you have a spinner with equal spaces for A B and C. Eahc would have a probability of 1/3. Therfore the probability of getting an A or a B with one spin is 1/3 +1/3 = 2/3. However, if ther are two seperate spins, the odds are not 2/3. The probability is 1/3+1/3-1/9. Why, because there are 2 ways to get A out of 6 choices and two ways to get B out of six choices, but since you can get A and B together, adding them up directly would be counting twice one of his choices twice.

Answer 3

almost-

the odds of at least one event happening is
P(at least one) = (1-chance that neither event occurs)
P(neither) = (117/118) * (75/76) = .978479

so P(at least one) = 1- 0.978479
or 0.02152096

(which is slightly different than just adding the probabilities,
= 0.0216324)
ADDING THE PROBABILITIES OF THE TWO EVENTS IS WRONG!
imagine flipping a coin twice. the probability of heads each time is 50%, so does that mean the probability of at least one head out of the two tosses is 50+50 =100%? NO!!!

Answer 4

1/118 + 1/76 would be the odds for at least one event happening if you don't mind that both can occur also.

If you demand that only one occurs but not both, then the odds would be:

(75/76 * 1/118) + (117/118 * 1/76).... (I think)

Answer 5

First which event is has better odds of occuring on its' own? Event one would be more likely to happen than event two, if you look at it from left to right. Head on, it is a fifty-fifty chance that either event would happen ,considering if they are measured as an event and not a fracton. 1/2

Answer 6

If the "coefficent of correlation" of both events is "ONE" , it is 1/98.. If the coefficent of correlation of both events is "ZERO" the odds are NIL.
Suffering from AIDS and Having promiscuous sex are two events.The coefficent correlartion is high ie near ONE..
Taking cyanide and dying are two events the coefficent correlation is ONE..
Having Viral fever and having an earth quake the coefficient of correlation is ZERO.