The Cambridge Dictionary of Probability and its Applications

People in general are curiously bad at estimating risks or chances – the mere existence of casinos, betting shops and national lotteries demonstrates this. Part of the problem is that so many of us are actively put off by the sight of numbers rather than words. Most people will understand the words “a one in ten chance” quite easily, but will start to get confused by a figure as simple as “10 per cent”. Many readers’ eyes just glaze over when faced with anything more complex. One glance at the algebraic formulae and occasional Greek squiggles that litter every entry...