Tree and Venn Diagram

Question :

Tree diagrams and venn diagrams. Explain in your own words what each of these are and how they are helpful when calculating probability. 

Answer :

Tree diagram 

Tree diagram is a special type of diagram which can be used to determine the outcome of an event. The diagram works in a manner where a tree can have branches which are the frequencies or the probabilities. The diagram allows for the visualization of the problem hence can allow probabilities problem to look easier by visualization (Charles 2010).  

The example of the same can be:

Venn Diagram

Venn diagram is also a picture that helps to represent the outcome (possible) for any problem or probabilities. The Venn diagram has a box that indicates the sample space including the space of circle and oval. 

By looking at both the diagram, we can see that while both of these diagram have capability to represent the dependent and independent variable however Tree diagrams are more useful when one is considering the sequential event. The reason for the same is that when we take event in a sequence then the tree branches remain interconnected. Thus, the event must be interconnected and occur one after another for the tree diagram to be meaningful. 

While in case of Venn, the diagram focuses on the relation between the variable. In case of Venn, each circle represents a variable and depending upon the relationship, the intersection of these circle is represented. All the variables which are outside of the circle are not part of the set hence they stand outside. 

References

Charles, H., 2010, Understanding Basic Statistics. Cengage Learning, 2012, ISBN 9781133713890, pp. 205–208