law of averages
n.
The principle holding that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term.
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The principle holding that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term.
The idea that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term, that one will neither win nor lose all of the time. For example, If it rains every day this week, by the law of averages we're bound to get a sunny day soon. This colloquial term is a popular interpretation of a statistical principle, Bernoulli's theorem, formulated in the late 1600s.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performance
The law of averages is a lay term used to express a belief that outcomes of a random event will "even out" over a small sample.
As invoked in everyday life, the "law" usually reflects bad statistics or wishful thinking rather than any mathematical principle. While there is real theorem that a random variable will reflect its underlying probability over a large sample (see the law of large numbers), the law of averages typically assumes that unnatural short-term "balance" will occur.
Examples of the law of averages include:
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Law of averages". Read more |
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