Calculating Risk?
As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.
understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.
Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.
Here, we attempt to explain how the evidence is used to formulate results through the risk calculators.
The calculations are formed by combining the average life span for a population with the average reduction of life-span associated with a particular disease. Calculations get trickier when you want to know the combined risk of more than one disease and behaviour on life-span.
However, the information is out there. One of the biggest industries of the world, insurance companies, will use it in unwavering accuracy for economic gain. http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/profits_of_doom.html
Let's expand on some of the concepts behind these calculators. Now that you've had some fun on the previous risk calculators, try this one out with a few more tricks added. .
[INSERT OUR ANIMATION/RISK CALCULATOR]
