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Re: probability question about the dice game
Posted:
Feb 16, 2013 4:11 PM
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On 02/16/2013 01:30 PM, pepstein5@gmail.com wrote:
> On Saturday, February 16, 2013 3:00:44 PM UTC, David C. Ullrich wrote:
>> On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 05:45:37 -0800 (PST), pepstein5@gmail.com wrote:
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>>> Staying with the theme of odds terminology, but moving away from the argument,
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>> Giggle. Yes, now would be exactly the right time to "move away from
>>
>> the argument".
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>> Guffaw.
>>
>
> I don't find it that hilarious. Obviously, I've been shown
to be wrong about what standard usage is.
When bookmakers say an event is "2 to 1" without qualifiers
like "on" or "against", they mean that the probability
is around 31%. I'm certainly surprised to hear people
say that "The odds are 2 to 1 that it will rain"
means a probability of 2/3. I wonder why no one says
that the odds of winning the lottery are "one to millions"
[...]
Usage of language certainly varies over time and
geography.
If one googles for "odds of being struck by lightning",
what does one find the most of?
On current usage:
"Your odds of getting killed by a meteorite are roughly 1 in 250,000."
cf.:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/asteroid-odds/
Because of the word "in", maybe some people tend to speak
of odds but quote probabilities?
But I would definitely say
"The chances that you will be killed by [...]"
Dave
--
dracut:/# lvm vgcfgrestore
File descriptor 9 (/.console_lock) leaked on lvm invocation. Parent PID
993: sh
Please specify a *single* volume group to restore.
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