Answer: The two events A "do homework regularly" and B "pass the course" are not mutually exclusive events since P(A and B) is 0.57, which is greater than 0.
As per the question,
Event A is : Do homework regularly
Event B is : Pass the course.
P(A) = 0.60
P(B) = 0.85
In probability the Probability of occurrence of events A or B is defined by two conditions:
If events A and B are mutually exclusive:
[tex]P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B)[/tex] --- (1)
If events A and B are not mutually exclusive,
[tex]P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A and B)[/tex] ---- (2)
In other words, equations 1 and 2 will be equal only when P(A and B) =0.
Since 95% of the people who do homework regularly pass the course, we can derive the P(A and B) as
[tex]P(A and B) = P(A) * P(B|A)[/tex]
[tex]P(A and B) = 0.60 * 0.95[/tex]
[tex]P(A and B) = 0.57[/tex]
Since P(A and B) is greater than 0, the two events are not mutually exclusive.