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[–] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

My understanding would be:

  • Probabilities: Chance of a certain outcome happening. E.g. Outcome A has a 70% chance B a 20% and C 10%

  • Possibilities: what outcome scenarios exist. E.g. there exist 3 (A B C). Those Possibilities might have a probability associated with them

  • Plausibility: looks at the degree of truth of a statement. So if it logically makes sense and is the correct answer/is what happened. You might make a judgement of the plausibility of a possibility based on the probability of it happening. Say if something has two outcomes one with a 99% chance and the other 1% then that might be the more plausible one. Or if it has no chance, then it might be implausible


Edit: since someone mentioned the example of a coin toss.

Head and tails have a probability of 50% each (for the sake of simplicity I assume it won't land standing up)

A coin toss has two possible outcomes (possibilities). Head and tails.

Someone says he flipped a coin and got head 1000 times in a row. That's not plausible with a fair coin because of the low chance of it actually happening (even if there is a indefinitely small chance). As a result you might assume he is either lying or the coin is weighted for that outcome.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    A coin toss has two possible outcomes (possibilities). Head and tails.

    There is also the extreme implausibility with a <1% probability that it will land on its edge but still more possible than 1000 heads in a row.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago
    1. Probabilities - The mathematically determined chance that something will happen given a specific scenario.

    2. Possibilities - The set off all things with a >0% chance of happening given a specific scenario.

    3. Plausibility - The outcomes of a specific scenario, that when presented to a reasonable person, that person would determine that they are possible.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    Coin toss:

    1. Heads or tails are 50/50 probability.
    2. It is possible that the coin lands on its side.
    3. It is implausible that it splits in two.
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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago
    1. Decent chance of happening.
    2. Is theoretically possible but unlikely.
    3. Could happen, but there's no data on how likely it is.
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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Probabilities will likely happen.
    Possibilities could happen if chances go right.
    Plausibilities could, within reason, happen, but are not necessarily likely.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Possibility: it can technically happen

    Probability: statistically significant likelihood of happening

    Plausibility: a possibility that passes the laugh test

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Probability is a numeric value between: 0 and 1 of how likely an event is going to happen. Depending on the definition, I would say that possibilities and plausabilities are both events with a nonzero probability. Colloquially, possibilities are more likely than plausabilities I guess. Source: two thirds of a stats phd and C2 level english skills lol

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    when people say its plausible tho, I feel like that means its a bit more likely or they entertain the chance of it happening or being correct more than a mere possibillity tho

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Plausible is more like conceivable.

    It's possible that when I slam my hand on the table, it will go through the table, but it's not plausible. We can't imagine it actually happening, even though we know it can.

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