Question

Think of scenario in which probability can be used in everyday life ( weather forecasts, car insurance). Describe the how statistics of the probability could be used and what some outcomes of the probability . Site source.

Answer 1

1. Weather Forecasting

Before planning for an outing or a picnic, we always check the weather forecast. Suppose it says that there is a 60% chance that rain may occur. Do you ever wonder from where this 60% come from? Meteorologists use a specific tool and technique to predict the weather forecast. They look at all the other historical database of the days, which have similar characteristics of temperature, humidity, and pressure, etc. And determine that on 60 out of 100 similar days in the past, it had rained.

2. Batting Average in Cricket

Batting average in Cricket represents how many runs a batsman would score before getting out. For example, if a batsman had scored 40 runs out of 100 from boundaries in the previous match. Then, there is a chance that he would score 40% of his runs in the next match from boundaries.

3. Politics

Many politics analysts use the tactics of probability to predict the outcome of the election’s results. For example, they may predict a certain political party to come into power; based on the results of exit polls.

4. Flipping a coin or Dice

Flipping a coin is one of the most important events before the start of the match. There is no surety, either head will come or not. Both head and tail have 1 out of 2, i.e., 50% chances to occur. Hence, the probability of getting the desired outcome is 0.5. Similarly, while playing with dice, there are 1 out of 6 chances, that the required number will come.

5. Insurance

Probability helps in analyzing the best plan of insurance which suits you and your family the most. For example, you are an active smoker, and chances of getting lungs disease are higher in you. So, instead of choosing an insurance scheme for your vehicle or house, you may go for your health insurance first, because the chance of your getting sick are higher. For instance, nowadays people are getting their mobile phones insured because they know that the chances of their mobile phones getting damaged or lost are high.

6. Are we likely to die in an accident?

Rates of car accidents have increased rapidly in the past decades. For example, if a city has a population of one lakh, and the death rate in car accidents is 500. So, the chance of being killed in a crash is 500/1 lakh is 0.05%. Thus, a person has a 0.05% chance to die in a car accident.

7. Lottery Tickets

Winning or losing a lottery is one of the most interesting examples of probability. In a typical Lottery game, each player chooses six distinct numbers from a particular range. If all the six numbers on a ticket match with that of the winning lottery ticket, the ticket holder is a Jackpot winner- regardless of the order of the numbers. The probability of this happening is 1 out of 10 lakh.