ETYM French chance, Old Fren. cheance, from Late Lat. cadentia (a allusion to the falling of the dice), from Latin cadere to fall; akin to Skr. çad to fall, Latin cedere to yield, Eng. cede. Related to Cadence.
(Homonym: chants).
A risk involving danger.
Likelihood, or probability, of an event taking place, expressed as a fraction or percentage. For example, the chance that a tossed coin will land heads up is 50%.
As a science, it originated when the Chevalier de Méré consulted Blaise Pascal about how to reduce his gambling losses. In 1664, in correspondence with another mathematician, Pierre de Fermat, Pascal worked out the foundations of the theory of chance. This underlies the science of statistics. + prikaži više

ETYM French fortune, Latin fortuna; akin to fors, fortis, chance, prob. from ferre to bear, bring. Related to Bear to support, and cf. Fortuitous.
1. A large amount of wealth or prosperity.
2. One's overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you); SYN. destiny, fate, luck, lot, circumstances, portion. + prikaži više

ETYM Akin to Dutch luk, geluk, German glück, Icel. lukka, Swed. lycka, Dan. lykke, and perh. to German locken to entice. Related to Gleck.
1. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; SYN. fortune, chance, hazard.
2. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome; SYN. fortune. + prikaži više

ETYM Latin probabilitas: cf. French probabilité.
1. A measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; SYN. chance.
2. The quality of being probable.
Likelihood, or chance, that an event will occur, often expressed as odds, or in mathematics, numerically as a fraction or decimal.
In general, the probability that n particular events will happen out of a total of m possible events is n/m. A certainty has a probability of 1; an impossibility has a probability of 0. Empirical probability is defined as the number of successful events divided by the total possible number of events.
In tossing a coin, the chance that it will land “heads” is the same as the chance that it will land “tails”, that is, 1 to 1 or even; mathematically, this probability is expressed as ˝ or 0.5. The odds against any chosen number coming up on the roll of a fair die are 5 to 1; the probability is 1/6 or 0.1666. If two dice are rolled there are 6 x 6 = 36 different possible combinations. The probability of a double (two numbers the same) is 6/36 or 1/6 since there are six doubles in the 36 events: (1,1), (2,2), (3,3), (4,4), (5,5), and (6,6).
Probability theory was developed by the French mathematicians Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat in the 17th century, initially in response to a request to calculate the odds of being dealt various hands at cards. Today probability plays a major part in the mathematics of atomic theory and finds application in insurance and statistical studies. + prikaži više