Radiometric dating Scientists can determine the age of ancient objects by the method of radiometric dating. The bombardment of the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays converts nitrogen to a radioactive isotope of carbon, 14C, with a half-life of about 5730 years. Vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide through the atmosphere and animal life assimilates 14C through food chains. When a plant or animal dies, it stops replacing its carbon and the amount of 14C begins to decrease through radioactive decay. Therefore the level of radioactivity must also decay exponentially. A discovery revealed a parchment fragment that had about 74% as much 14C radioactivity as does plant material on the earth today. Estimate the age of the parchment.
Addition Rule of Probability
It simply refers to the likelihood of an event taking place whenever the occurrence of an event is uncertain. The probability of a single event can be calculated by dividing the number of successful trials of that event by the total number of trials.
Expected Value
When a large number of trials are performed for any random variable ‘X’, the predicted result is most likely the mean of all the outcomes for the random variable and it is known as expected value also known as expectation. The expected value, also known as the expectation, is denoted by: E(X).
Probability Distributions
Understanding probability is necessary to know the probability distributions. In statistics, probability is how the uncertainty of an event is measured. This event can be anything. The most common examples include tossing a coin, rolling a die, or choosing a card. Each of these events has multiple possibilities. Every such possibility is measured with the help of probability. To be more precise, the probability is used for calculating the occurrence of events that may or may not happen. Probability does not give sure results. Unless the probability of any event is 1, the different outcomes may or may not happen in real life, regardless of how less or how more their probability is.
Basic Probability
The simple definition of probability it is a chance of the occurrence of an event. It is defined in numerical form and the probability value is between 0 to 1. The probability value 0 indicates that there is no chance of that event occurring and the probability value 1 indicates that the event will occur. Sum of the probability value must be 1. The probability value is never a negative number. If it happens, then recheck the calculation.
Radiometric dating Scientists can determine the age of ancient objects by the method of radiometric dating. The bombardment of the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays converts nitrogen to a radioactive isotope of carbon, 14C, with a half-life of about 5730 years. Vegetation absorbs
carbon dioxide through the atmosphere and animal life assimilates 14C through food chains. When a plant or animal dies, it stops replacing its carbon and the amount of 14C begins to decrease through radioactive decay. Therefore the level of radioactivity must also decay exponentially. A discovery revealed a parchment fragment that had about 74% as much 14C radioactivity as does plant material on the earth today. Estimate the age of the parchment.
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