March 24, 2010
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Math problem or Language problem???
Yesterday was a lovely day. But, during the course of the day, hubby read something to me that really bothers me. Really! This is a big deal. It was in the upper 40′s in the morning I’d guess. Little sister and I went for a walk through the neighborhood and talked and walked. It was really nice. As we got back to our street a raindrop or two splashed on the sidewalk in front of us. We timed that nicely. So we got back home and I found hubby on the computer checking the weather. First of all, that is not unusual. He loves weather and weather info and anything relating to weather. He read the forecast for the day to me. THEN, I was so confused. I didn’t even know what to do.
He showed me the weather forecast page on the weather channel’s website. It said for our area there was “100% chance of snow”. WHAT?!!! What did that mean? Is it going to snow or not? Because the word “chance” implies that it might snow or it might not, but 100% means it is a certain thing. So how is it even possible to have a 100% chance?! Either you have a chance or you have 100% certainty, but you can’t have both. I’m pretty upset about this. I want to talk to the proper authorities about this forecast, but I don’t know if I need to talk to a mathematician or a grammarian or a forecaster?! Is this a math problem or a language problem or a forecasting problem? We got snow. Quite a lot of it actually. I’m still boggled by the “100% CHANCE”! That is just not right. Maybe I’ll start a petition and send it to a high ranking official at MIT. I hear there are people there that like math and such. There is a 100% chance I might actually do that. (or is there?!)
Have a happy day
Comments (6)
Hahah! You are absolutely right. 100% is a certainty.
Sorry I haven’t been around in awhile. Things are still crazy with the new house and such. I hope to be online more in a month or two. Well…in between the 13 weddings my husband and I have to go to this year. 
This sounds like a question for Miss Smarty Pants!
The problem you see is that you failed to realize that there is conversly a 0% chance that it wouldn’t snow. Because 0 is an infinitesimally small number, so small infact that it is immeasurable it can hardly be acknowledged. Yet, it can not be ignored either, because it exists as a round thingy on the page, therefore the chance still existed that there would be no snow, albeit a zero percent chance.
Does that help?
You do make a point!
It sounds like someone was just “covering their behind” in case they predicted incorrectly.
The problem you see is that you failed to realize that there is conversly a 0% chance that it wouldn’t snow. Because 0 is an infinitesimally small number, so small infact that it is immeasurable it can hardly be acknowledged. Yet, it can not be ignored either, because it exists as a round thingy on the page, therefore the chance still existed that there would be no snow, albeit a zero percent chance.
Does that help?
This sounds like a question for Miss Smarty Pants!
The problem you see is that you failed to realize that there is conversly a 0% chance that it wouldn’t snow. Because 0 is an infinitesimally small number, so small infact that it is immeasurable it can hardly be acknowledged. Yet, it can not be ignored either, because it exists as a round thingy on the page, therefore the chance still existed that there would be no snow, albeit a zero percent chance.
Does that help?
You do make a point! It sounds like someone was just “covering their behind” in case they predicted incorrectly.
I think the answer is in there somewhere!
Is this a story problem?