Probability plays a major role in the medical community. Diagnoses are based on probabilities. They are really questions or "what if's", and are answered by the probability that the treatment will be

Probability plays a major role in the medical community. Diagnoses are based on probabilities. They are really questions or "what if's", and are answered by the probability that the treatment will be the best for the ailment.

Let's look at probability in terms of both the real world and the medical community.

1. Survey 30 people to find out if they are left-handed or right-handed, and use the following chart to create a contingency table with the information.

Left handed Right handed Total Female Male Total

1. Answer the following questions about the information in your contingency table:
   1. If a person is randomly selected from the survey participants, what is the probability that the person will be left-handed?
   2. If you randomly choose a female from the people you surveyed, what is the probability that she is left-handed?
   3. What is the odds ratio of choosing a left-handed female?
   4. What is the relative risk of choosing a left-handed female?

We are looking at odds ratios and relative risk. Think about which variable is your outcome and which is your group. For relative risk, the groups go in the denominator.

It is helpful if you look at the idea of statistical probability, subjective probability, and conditional probability in this post. These are the big three that you are probably using.