Mutually Exclusive Events

Mutually Exclusive Events

In layperson's terms, two events are 'mutually exclusive' if they cannot occur at the same time. An example is tossing a coin once, which can result in either heads or tails, but not both.

In the coin-tossing example, both outcomes are collectively exhaustive, which means that at least one of the outcomes must happen, so these two possibilities together exhaust all the possibilities. However, not all mutually exclusive events are collectively exhaustive. For example, the outcomes 1 and 4 of a single roll of a six-sided die are mutually exclusive (cannot both happen) but not collectively exhaustive (there are other possible outcomes; 2,3,5,6).

Read more about Mutually Exclusive Events:  Logic, Probability, Statistics

Famous quotes containing the words mutually exclusive, mutually, exclusive and/or events:

    If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I’m neurotic as hell. I’ll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.
    Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)

    If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I’m neurotic as hell. I’ll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.
    Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)

    Unless you become more watchful in your states and check the spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that ... the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations.
    Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)

    The geometry of landscape and situation seems to create its own systems of time, the sense of a dynamic element which is cinematising the events of the canvas, translating a posture or ceremony into dynamic terms. The greatest movie of the 20th century is the Mona Lisa, just as the greatest novel is Gray’s Anatomy.
    —J.G. (James Graham)