A weather states that there is a 60% chance of rain on Saturday and a 60% chance of rain on Sunday. Explain why the chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday isn't equal to 120%.
Since the prob of anything has to be a number between 0 and 1 inclusive,
an answer of 120% which would be 1.2 is totally illogical
The chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday isn't equal to 120% because the probability of an event happening cannot exceed 100%. The 60% chance of rain on Saturday means that, out of all possible outcomes, it is expected to rain on 60% of those occasions. Similarly, the 60% chance of rain on Sunday means that, out of all possible outcomes, it is expected to rain on 60% of those occasions.
When we consider the chance of rain on both Saturday and Sunday, we cannot simply add the probabilities together. This is because the two events are not independent of each other. The weather conditions on the two days may have some level of correlation, so the probabilities do not simply add up.
To calculate the combined probability, we need to use a different approach. One way to do this is to multiply the individual probabilities. The probability of rain on both Saturday and Sunday would be calculated as follows:
Probability of rain on Saturday (0.60) multiplied by the probability of rain on Sunday (0.60) equals 0.36 or 36%.
Therefore, the chance of rain on both Saturday and Sunday is 36%, not 120%.