Probability

From ACT Wiki
Revision as of 11:34, 5 August 2014 by imported>Doug Williamson (Link with Black swan page.)
Jump to navigationJump to search

The study of chance providing an objective measure of uncertainty.

Probabilities range between 1 (=100%) and 0 (=0%).

A probability of 100% means that an event is considered certain to occur.

A probability of 0% means that an event is considered certain not to occur.


For example, flipping an unbiased coin, the probability of getting a head is often modelled as 50%.


This simple model of a coin flip assumes that the only two possibilities are a head or a tail. Applying such simple models to financial situations, and treating financial outcomes as simple coin flips, may lead to errors resulting from:

  1. The coin landing on its side 'more often than it's supposed to'.
  2. The underlying assumption of an unbiased coin not being valid.


See also