A coin is tossed. If the outcome is a head, a die is thrown. If the die shows up an even number, the die is thrown again. What is the sample space for the experiment?
Let H denote the event of a head and T denote the event of a tail,
1,2,3,4,5,6 denote the event the respective numbers come when the die is thrown
The problem can be solved by dividing it into 3 cases
Case 1: Head is encountered and the corresponding number on the die is Odd
Total number of sample space=(1×3)=3
We define the possible outcomes by an ordered set (x , y)
x denotes the first event the head is encountered
y denotes the second event the number on the die is Odd
Sample space S1={(H,1),(H,3),(H,5)}
Case 2: Head is encountered and the corresponding number is even
Total number of sample space=(1×3×6)=18
We define the possible outcomes by an ordered set (x, y, z)
where
x denotes the outcomes when the coin is tossed and head is encountered
y denotes the outcomes when the die is tossed and the number encountered is even
z denotes the outcomes when the die is tossed for the second time
Sample Space
S2={(H,2,1),(H,2,2),(H,2,3),(H,2,4),(H,2,5),(H,2,6),(H,4,1),(H,4,2),(H,4,3),(H,2,4),(H,4,5),(H,4,6), (H,6,1),(H,6,2),(H,6,3),(H,6,4),(H,6,5),(H,6,6)}
Case 3: Tail is encountered
Total number of sample space=1
Sample space S3={(T)}
The overall sample spaces
S={(H,1),(H,3),(H,5), (H,2,1),(H,2,2),(H,2,3),(H,2,4),(H,2,5),(H,2,6),(H,4,1),(H,4,2),(H,4,3),(H,2,4),(H,4,5),(H,4,6), (H,6,1),(H,6,2),(H,6,3),(H,6,4),(H,6,5),(H,6,6),(T)}