Probability Calculator

Single Event

Probability

50%

The Numbers

  • Complement (probability it does NOT happen): 50%

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Includes your inputs and results for this calculation, plus any additional calculations you've compared.

How This Calculator Works

Probability measures how likely an event is, as a number between 0 (impossible) and 1 (certain). Enter a count of favorable and total outcomes to find a single event’s probability and its complement, or enter two independent events’ probabilities to find the chance both happen, either happens, or neither happens.

The Formula

Single event:

Probability=Favorable OutcomesTotal Outcomes\vC{\text{Probability}} = \frac{\text{Favorable Outcomes}}{\text{Total Outcomes}}

The complement (the chance the event does NOT happen) is always 1Probability1 - \vC{\text{Probability}}.

Two independent events (where one event happening doesn’t change the chance of the other):

  • P(both occur)=P(A)×P(B)P(\text{both occur}) = P(\vA{A}) \times P(\vB{B})
  • P(either occurs)=P(A)+P(B)P(A)×P(B)P(\text{either occurs}) = P(\vA{A}) + P(\vB{B}) - P(\vA{A}) \times P(\vB{B}) — adding the two directly would double-count the overlap where both happen, so it’s subtracted back out once (the inclusion-exclusion principle).
  • P(neither occurs)=(1P(A))×(1P(B))P(\text{neither occurs}) = (1 - P(\vA{A})) \times (1 - P(\vB{B}))

Worked Example

Single event: rolling an even number on a standard 6-sided die.

  1. Favorable outcomes: 3 (2, 4, 6) out of 6 total: 3÷6=50%3 \div 6 = \vC{50\%}.
  2. Complement: 150%=50%1 - \vC{50\%} = 50\% (rolling an odd number).

Two independent events: flipping a coin and getting heads (P = 50%) AND rolling a die and getting a 6 (P ≈ 16.67%):

  1. P(both) = 0.5 × 0.1667 ≈ 8.33%
  2. P(either) = 0.5 + 0.1667 − 0.0833 ≈ 58.33%
  3. P(neither) = 0.5 × 0.8333 ≈ 41.67%

Source: Standard probability formulas (classical probability and independent-event rules).

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "independent events" mean?

Two events are independent if one happening has no effect on the chance of the other happening — like a coin flip and a separate die roll. If one event DOES affect the other (dependent events), these formulas do not apply.

Why do you subtract P(A) x P(B) when finding P(either occurs)?

Simply adding P(A) and P(B) would count the case where BOTH happen twice — once in each probability. Subtracting the overlap (P(A) x P(B)) back out corrects for that double-count. This is called the inclusion-exclusion principle.

What is a complement in probability?

An event's complement is everything that counts as the event NOT happening. Since an event either happens or it doesn't, an event's probability and its complement's probability always add up to exactly 1 (100%).