Mathematics I / Conditional Probability and Independence
Practice question · True or false

Two mutually exclusive events with non-zero probability cannot be independent.

Hints
  1. If one happens, what is the chance of the other?
  2. Exclusivity forces the conditional to zero.
Show the answer

True

Why

True. If A occurs, B cannot, so P(BA)=0P(B)P(B \mid A) = 0 \neq P(B), the opposite of independence. The two terms sound similar and are nearly contradictory: exclusivity is a very strong dependence. Only a probability-zero event can be both.

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