Final answer:
Probability is the likelihood of an event occurring, which can be expressed from 0 (never happens) to 1 (always happens), and often as a percentage. Percentages represent a proportion or part of a whole expressed out of 100. Probability is used to predict outcomes in random events by analyzing long-term frequencies.
Step-by-step explanation:
Probability is the measure of the likelihood that an event will occur. It is a mathematical concept used to express how certain we can be of outcomes in a random experiment. If we take the example of tossing a fair coin, the theoretical probability of getting heads is 1 in 2, or 0.5. Since probability can also be expressed as a percentage, this is equivalent to a 50 percent chance. However, probability and percentages are not the same thing.
While probability refers to the chance of an outcome occurring, expressed as a value between 0 (impossible event) and 1 (certain event), percentages relate to proportions out of a hundred. It is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100. For example, if 75 out of 100 students passed an examination, we would say the percentage of students that passed is 75%. This percentage is based on actual data, thus reflecting an empirical probability, which derives from observation. In genetics, as observed by Mendel, probabilities calculated from large numbers of crosses can predict the outcomes of genetic traits such as the appearance of round seeds in pea plants.
It is important to note that while a single coin toss is unpredictable, when we look at long-term frequencies over many tosses, the outcomes will align closely with the expected probabilities. This is what is meant by long-term relative frequencies, which are fundamental in understanding probability.