Statistics are weird
So for some reason my mind started wandering (again) and this simple sounding topic came into my brain. Statistics. Percentages. It's really odd how we use them. we use them in weather, we say there's a 39.54% chance of rain. but in reality, it's either going to rain. Or it isn't. in science, if you do an experiment, than do it again, the exact same way it was done before, it should have the same results. of course you would have to assume nothing changed. which is probably never safe to assume. but still, when a rain cloud comes in it doesn't just say "Eh, not today." (though it feels like that where I live sometimes.) there has to be a reason that it didn't rain. But I can only assume that we use percentages because we don't have the means to gather all the data we need to make an accurate prediction. But that doesn't make a percentage a good way of representing what's going to happen. Percentages work fine for information that's already been gathered, like test scores or votes or whatever. but when used to predict future events, it just doesn't work.
Let's conduct a little experiment. I like Transformers, let's use that. Ok, so lets say I have a box that contains a single transformer figure. I have long since forgotten which one or what form it's in. I might proceed to guess what form it's in, therefore giving each one a value as to how likely it is that it's in. I tend to keep them in robot mode, but if it's in storage It's liable to be in either mode. To make things even more confusing, I'm not sure where my Astrotrain figure is. (He's a triple changer for the unknowing.) So right now it could be one of at least 2 figures, one of which is in 1 of 2 modes, the other 1 of 3. But since I'm not sure I can remember every figure in my collection, he could be any number of different figures, in a variety of modes. So I can make a prediction who, and in what mode, is in that box. Now it isn't a complete shot in the dark but it's mostly a random guess. Now who is in the box doesn't matter. what matters is that my prediction doesn't change what's in the box. so why do I bother predicting anyway? Or am I just ranting and this makes no sense and is a bunch of jibberish... Whatever... I don't know. I feel like I have something here...
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