The study of probability may be thought of as a study of random outcomes or risk. Probability is useful in analyzing games of chance, business risk, market analysis, life insurance, finance, government policy planning, and scientific studies, to name a few. While it is a relatively young field in mathematics, its applications are far reaching into nearly every aspect of human life.According to the news, the lottery jackpot is climbing by the hour.  Long lines of dreamers are forming wherever lottery tickets are sold.  While you don’t usually buy lottery tickets, it is getting tempting.  Just imagine what you could do with $100 million dollars.  Perhaps you could retire early or never even go to work.  Maybe buy a rare fancy car.  All you need to do is pick the correct numbers, and the jackpot is all yours!

It sounds easy enough; just six simple numbers.  But how likely are you to win?  And could you increase the likelihood of winning by purchasing more lottery tickets?

It is often necessary to “guess” about the outcome of an event in order to make a decision. Politicians study polls to guess their likelihood of winning an election. Doctors choose the treatments needed for various diseases based on their assessment of likely results. You may have visited a casino where people play games chosen because of the belief that the likelihood of winning is good. You may have chosen your course of study based on the probable availability of jobs.

You have, more than likely, used probability. In fact, you probably have an intuitive sense of probability. Probability deals with the chance of an event occurring. Whenever you weigh the odds of whether or not to do your homework or to study for an exam, you are using probability. In this probability section of the Probability and Statistics module, you will learn how to solve probability problems using a systematic approach.

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