Chance

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/chance

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the fundamental nature?Represents events lacking deterministic causality or predictable patterns
2. What is the historical development?Evolved from ancient games of chance and divination to formal probability theory
3. Why did ancient people use dice and bones to learn about chance?They used dice and animal bones to see how random events work and to help make decisions or have fun. It was an early way to explore the idea of probability.
4. How does chance help scientists when they do experiments?Scientists give people or items random assignments, like treatment or placebo, so any differences they see are likely because of the treatment, not other factors.

Probability Theory: A branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of random phenomena and their likelihoods.
Randomness: The property of a process or event that lacks any discernible pattern or predictability.
Stochastic Process: A process involving a sequence of random variables, often used to model systems that evolve over time.