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In probability theory, an outcome is a possible result of an experiment or trial. [1] Each possible outcome of a particular experiment is unique, and different outcomes are mutually exclusive (only one outcome will occur on each trial of the experiment).
Probability theory or probability calculus is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations , probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set of axioms .
A simple example is the tossing of a fair (unbiased) coin. Since the coin is fair, the two outcomes ("heads" and "tails") are both equally probable; the probability of "heads" equals the probability of "tails"; and since no other outcomes are possible, the probability of either "heads" or "tails" is 1/2 (which could also be written as 0.5 or 50%).
A subset of the sample space of a procedure or experiment (i.e. a possible outcome) to which a probability can be assigned. For example, on rolling a die, "getting a three" is an event (with a probability of 1 ⁄ 6 if the die is fair), as is "getting a five or a six" (with a probability of 1 ⁄ 3).
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applications include many problems in the fields of physics, biology, [1] chemistry, neuroscience, [2] computer science, [3] [4] information theory [5] and ...
In probability theory, an event is a subset of outcomes of an experiment (a subset of the sample space) to which a probability is assigned. [1] A single outcome may be an element of many different events, [2] and different events in an experiment are usually not equally likely, since they may include very different groups of outcomes. [3]
Intuitively, the additivity property says that the probability assigned to the union of two disjoint (mutually exclusive) events by the measure should be the sum of the probabilities of the events; for example, the value assigned to the outcome "1 or 2" in a throw of a dice should be the sum of the values assigned to the outcomes "1" and "2 ...
In probability theory and statistics, a probability distribution is the mathematical function that gives the probabilities of occurrence of possible outcomes for an experiment. [1] [2] It is a mathematical description of a random phenomenon in terms of its sample space and the probabilities of events (subsets of the sample space). [3]