meaning - How high is “probability” in terms of likelihood as compared with “possibility”?

There is the following famous line in the book, “Life Lessons” co-authored by Elisabeth Kuble-Ross, an expert on death and dying and her colleague, David Kessler,

“We all live with the possibility of death, but the dying live with the probability.”

From this text, it seems “probability” has a larger chance of incidence happening than “possibility.”

Can we translate the level of likelihood of “possibility” and “probability” roughly into percentage of certainty? We say high / low possibility (likelihood). Can’t we say low probability?

P.S.

In Japan, we express possibility (可能性 -kanohsei in Japanese) by percentage, like “There will be 100 (80, 50, 20, 2-3) % possibility of earthquake taking place in Tokyo area in next 30 years,” and we seldom use the word, “蓋然性- gaizensei,” which is a counterpart to English “probability.” “蓋然性- gaizensei,” is a big word, and its usage is limited to academic or scientific writings.

Answer

This is a question Statistics professors ask within the first hour of Statistics 101. Possibility vs Probability vs Likelihood. Then the professor would give an interesting story and then he would leave it at a cliff-hanger and say that the rest of story will follow over the course of the next couple of semesters.

In Mathematics, we have the situation of qualitative vs quantitative.

Probability is measurable. It is quantitative.

Possibility is not measurable. Like beautiful, it is a qualitative term.

Likelihood, is the expectation of a probability. Perhaps, if you could understand the concept of acceleration of acceleration, you should be able to visualize the idea of expectation of chances, the probabilities of a probability.

what is the probability that the probability is 60%, measured two months prior to election day, of Hillary becoming President?

What is the likelihood that the poll figures in May, being the same as those in August? What is the likelihood that the probabilities due to the poll taken in May, accurately reflects Hillary's chances in October?

What is the likelihood that the probability due to the 1000 person sample accurately reflects the probable tendencies of this city of 100K?

What is the likelihood that when a tree falls in the forest, and only 2% chance that someone would notice it, and then what is the likelihood of that 2% probability being sufficiently insignificant that would allow us to say that there would be no sound observed?

When you ask

"What are the possibilities of the space shuttle having a stratospheric accident?" you are asking for the various ways the accident could occur.

"What is the probability of the space shuttle having a stratospheric accident?" you are asking for a signature number calculated to tell us how likely such an accident would occur. Such that out of 1000 flights, how many of them would explode in the stratosphere.

"Is there possibility of the space shuttle having a stratospheric accident?" you are asking if it is possible, yes/no.

"What is the possibility of the space shuttle having a stratospheric accident?" you are asking for that one descriptive possibility.

"What are the probabilities of the space shuttle having a stratospheric accident?" you are asking for the various methodologies of calculating the probability to tell us how likely such an accident would occur. Such that out of 1000 flights, how many of them would explode in the stratosphere, comparing various means of analyses.

And please refer to the statistics stack for Likelihood vs Probability.

And the wikipedia explanation.

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy. In both The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...

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