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What's the difference between 'possibility' and 'probability'?
What's the difference between 'possibility' and 'probability'?
Mar 6, 2011 2:47 PM
Answers · 2
2
"Possibility" means something may happen, but we don't know how likely. "Probability" means something may happen, but we believe it is more likely (i.e., more "probable") than not. So I could say there is a possibility of rain next week; but I think there is a probability of rain tonight, because I can see dark clouds and detect a change in the barometric pressure.
March 6, 2011
In several contexts (not always), /possibility/ has a positive meaning, like:
"answer to that insertion, seems a possibility to you";
You may stick a number to /probability/, usually like a percentage
(in this case 100 % means: sure event), or as a fraction of unity (in this case 0.5
means an equal chance of the event to verify or not).
You can't stick a number to /possibility/.
Examples:
The probability of rain within the next 5 hours is 95 %
The probability of rain tomorrow morning is 65 % from the data available now.
March 7, 2011
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