Testing for Mutual Exclusivity

A test for two events being mutually exclusive is presented for the case in which there are known rates of misclassification of the events. The test can be utilized in other situations, such as to test whether a set is a subset of another set. In the test, the null value of the probability of the intersection is replaced by the expected value of the number determined to be in the intersection by the imperfect diagnostic tools. The test statistic is the number in a sample that is judged to be in the intersection. Medical testing applications are emphasized.