STAT 100 Chapter 17: Chapter 17.pdf

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Statistics
• Course: STAT 100
• Professor: Derek Bingham

Document Summary

Chance behaviour is unpredictable in the short run but has a regular and predictable pattern in the long run. Probability describes the long-term regularity of random phenomena. Is a number between 0 (the outcome never occurs) and 1 (always occurs). Based on data about many repetitions of the same random phenomenon. We call a phenomenon random if individual outcomes are uncertain but there is nonetheless a regular distribution of outcomes in a large number of repetitions. Describe only what happens in the long run. Believers in the law of averages think that if you toss a coin six times and get tttttt, the next toss must be more likely to give a head. It"s true that in the long run heads must appear half the time. What is myth is that future outcomes must make up for an imbalance like six straight tails.