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Unexplained Mysteries Discussion Forums > Science > Science & Technology
Asterix
I've been annoyed lately by some theory of mine that looks a bit like those mathematical paradoxes presented throught history, and I would like your opinions. I'm pretty sure that I'm making a mistake somewhere in my thinking, but I can't realize where..Anyway, here goes..

Let's say that I want to predict the probability to be in an airplane accident. Let's suppose that statistics say that 1 out of 100 planes flying will crash. That means that if I am on a plane, I have 1% chance to go down. Now, if I fly 100 consecutive times and I still haven't crashed, that actually changes the statistic probabilities, right? after 110 safe trips the accident probaility will be 1 in 110, after 150 it will be 1 in 150 and so on.

BUT

Since logic says that eventually a plane will crash, isn't it so that with every trip I would, at the same time, increase actually my probabilities to be in an accident? What's true? Do chances say that it's less likely to happen, or that it's more likely to happen?
Stellar
Not necessairly. Think about it this way, 1 in 100 planes crash means that 10 in 1000 planes crash. The probability stays the same.
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