Skip to content Skip to navigation

Connexions

You are here: Home » Content » What is a sample space?

Navigation

Recently Viewed

This feature requires Javascript to be enabled.
Reuse / Edit
x

Module:

Add to a lens
x

Add module to:

Add to Favorites
x

Add module to:

 

What is a sample space?

Module by: Christopher Chikalimba-Gama. E-mail the author

Summary: This module defines what a sample space is and its examples.

A sample space is a set or collection of outcome of a particular random experiment.

For example, imagine a dart board. You are trying to find the probability of getting a bullseye. The dart board is the sample space. The probability of a dart hitting the dart board is 1.0. For another example, imagine rolling a six sided die. The sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.

The following list consists of sample spaces of examples of random experiments and their respective outcomes.

  • The tossing of a coin, sample space is {Heads, Tails}
  • The roll of a die, sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
  • The selection of a numbered ball (1-50) in an urn, sample space is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...., 50}
  • Percentage of calls dropped due to errors over a particular time period, sample space is {2%, 14%, 23%, ......}
  • The time difference between two messages arriving at a message centre, sample space is {0, ...., infinity}
  • The time difference between two different voice calls over a particular network, sample space is {0, ...., infinity}

Exercise 1

What is the sample space of the buttered toast random experiment?

[ Show Solution ]

Reference

  1. Ali M. Probalistic system analyses: Part I. University of the witwatersrand, 2000.
  2. http://www.atsweb.neu.edu/chance/book/basic_definitions.html

Co-Author: Brandon Hodgson

Content actions

Download module as:

PDF | More downloads ...

Add module to:

My Favorites (?)

'My Favorites' is a special kind of lens which you can use to bookmark modules and collections. 'My Favorites' can only be seen by you, and collections saved in 'My Favorites' can remember the last module you were on. You need an account to use 'My Favorites'.

| A lens I own (?)

Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

| External bookmarks

Reuse / Edit:

Reuse or edit module (?)

Check out and edit

If you have permission to edit this content, using the "Reuse / Edit" action will allow you to check the content out into your Personal Workspace or a shared Workgroup and then make your edits.

Derive a copy

If you don't have permission to edit the content, you can still use "Reuse / Edit" to adapt the content by creating a derived copy of it and then editing and publishing the copy.