theory of probability
1
5.5
- noun
- /ˈθiəri əv prəˈbɑbɪlɪti/
- Specialized
:
teoría de la probabilidad
- The theory of probability is essential for understanding how likely different outcomes are in uncertain situations.
Examples
-
Blaise Pascal, inventor of the adding machine, hydraulic press, and the mathematical theory of probabilities.
Blog text (28) -
In her statistics class, she learned about the theory of probability and how it applies to games of chance.
-
Keiser-Neilsen in 1975 put forth a theory of probability for the duplication of human dentition.
Academic text (2007) -
In short, there are many known frequencies that may be taken to bear on Fred Smith's longevity, and the frequency theory of probability itself gives us no way of combining these frequencies.
Academic text (2001) -
The theory of probability explains how to calculate the odds of an event occurring in a random experiment.
Synonyms
473
3.6
The chance that something will happen, often shown as a number or percent
3
5.0
Part of math that studies chance and random events
How Accepted
- Specialized
206
5.0
- Specialized
1
5.5
∞
3.2
138
6.1
817
2.9
288
4.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
theory + of + probability
The phrase 'theory of probability' is transparently compositional: 'theory' denotes a systematic set of ideas and 'probability' denotes likelihood, so together they clearly mean the systematic study/explanation of probability. The pattern 'theory of X' is a common, cross-linguistic construction, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Theory of probability comes from people studying games of chance like rolling dice or tossing coins. They made a set of ideas, a theory, to measure how 'likely' events are, the probability, so today it means the rules and ideas used to calculate how likely something is.