Atton Rand & miscellaneous names (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
suitably_heroic) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2016-11-07 09:02 am
suitably_heroic) wrote in fandomhigh2016-11-07 09:02 am
Entry tags:
Game of Chance, Monday
"Today, we're getting into the nitty-gritty of calculating odds," Atton said. "None of that gut feeling stuff here. We're going to be talking percentages." He walked from table to table, putting down handouts of... sums.
Yep, kids. You were getting an actual math class.
"The thing about odds is that the math doesn't always work as you expect it to," he said. "If you flip a coin once, what's the chance you'll get heads? 50 percent. If you flip it ten times, what's the chance you'll get heads? Still 50 percent. Even if you flip it heads seven times in a row, the chance for the next toss is still 50 percent, because it could be one or the other."
He sat back down behind his desk.
"Percentages are always out of 100," he said, "Which means you can also write them down as fractions of 1. A chance of 0.2 out of 1 is the same as a 20 percent chance. So an easy way to calculate chance is to add up to one hundred. What's the percentage chance if you're talking 7 out of 25? Well, 25 times four adds up to 100, so seven times four - 28 percent."
He shrugged. "It's that easy," he said. "Now get to work."
Yep, kids. You were getting an actual math class.
"The thing about odds is that the math doesn't always work as you expect it to," he said. "If you flip a coin once, what's the chance you'll get heads? 50 percent. If you flip it ten times, what's the chance you'll get heads? Still 50 percent. Even if you flip it heads seven times in a row, the chance for the next toss is still 50 percent, because it could be one or the other."
He sat back down behind his desk.
"Percentages are always out of 100," he said, "Which means you can also write them down as fractions of 1. A chance of 0.2 out of 1 is the same as a 20 percent chance. So an easy way to calculate chance is to add up to one hundred. What's the percentage chance if you're talking 7 out of 25? Well, 25 times four adds up to 100, so seven times four - 28 percent."
He shrugged. "It's that easy," he said. "Now get to work."