|
Probability: Past outcomesA different use of the term probability is to express the relative frequency of outcomes in the past: That is, the number of times that each specific outcome has occurred divided by the total number of outcomes. For example, if a college football punter kicked 100 punts last year and 22 of the punts traveled more than 40 yards, we could say that the probability of his next punt exceeding 40 yards would be 22/100 or 22%.When we reason about real-life situations or problems, we generally use our knowledge of past outcomes to guide our decisions. But the situations are often more complex than the examples described so far. |