Can You Beat the Odds?

[james denoil]

no odds ??
are u kidding me

 

[DKCDKC]

Numbers are fascinating. I took a few statistics courses and how your phrase your numbers means everything. You can have odds of 10 to 1 and 1,000 to 1 for exactly the same event, but with different parameters - usually not stated. That's why it's prudent to take a careful look at any statistics someone offers about anything that matters to you.

I worked in the nuclear field for a time. The pro- and anti- nuclear groups used the same fundamental facts to derive vastly different results. Your real odds of getting hurt or killed in a nuclear accident in the US, obviously, are vanishingly small. But if you make all kinds of assumptions about the effect of radiation - primarily neglecting the ability of the body to heal itself from nuclear, cosmic or solar radiation - you can show high death rates.

Statistics in the media can be accurate numerically, but misleading, or downright deception.

It's why most of us become skeptics in our old age.

 

[swick1]

Maybe we are less likely to die in storms and car crashes because we take it seriously. I don't know how much having a gun helps but you would think treating people right, not doing drugs, and not keeping your valuables (including pills) in the open or talking about them should help a lot since most victims know their assailants. Fyi I carry a knife at all times for work and defense if necessary. I also live in a bad neighborhood and keep a loaded shotgun next to my bed.

 

[creekbend]

What, no odds for dying in the saddle, either kind?

I would surmise that it depends on your stamina or whether you had a heart condition. Also what your age is, in comparison to your partner"s.

 

[Gary Fowler]

As with any mathmatical statistic, you can decrease your odds by preparation and / or defensive actions. This is true for struck by lightning or dying from a heart attack. The law of averages can be leveraged to your side if you are willing to take the precautions necessary to bend the law a bit. Living conditions play a big role in all of the averages. IF you drive 100K per year your chances of being in an auto accident are higher than if you only drive 10K a year. There are all kinds of "ifs" attached to most Averages as not very many people are actually average.
The chances of dying in a tractor seat might be really really low for a city dweller who doesnt own a tractor for instance and much higher for a TBN member who owns a tractor and puts 50-100 hours per year while it might be lower on the farmer who puts 1000 or more hours per year due to experience level. LOTS OF NOT SO AVERAGE DATA IN AVERAGING.
I dont put a lot of stock in the law of averages since I dont sell insurance.

 

[rd_macgregor]

"Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1"

Does this imply that something like 4.5 million Americans die each year in transportation accidents?

BOB

 

[moeh1]

I can beat the odds 7.3 times out of ten...

 

[arrow]

"Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1"

Does this imply that something like 4.5 million Americans die each year in transportation accidents?

BOB

I don't think so. I think it has more to do with percentages of chances. That is if one gets into a mode of transportation what is the likely hood of being killed based on a set number of transportation entries to how many times a person got killed or something of that nature. Similar to the odds of rolling a certain number on one dice (die). Odds are 5 to 1 there but you could roll that number with less than 5 tries or more than that. The odds are based that it is a six sided shape and not how many times it gets rolled to get a specific number.