risk
Last edited June 25, 2008
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Risk
The probability that a particular undesirable result of a choice or option has of occurring.
 
The situation involves an action resulting from an outcome which is not known with certainty, but the set of outcomes and their relative probabilities are known or can be estimated.
 
How significant any such risk - a non-certain outcomeis depends upon the likelihood of the adverse consequence combined with how unpleasant this consequence might be. A catastrophic event capable of ending human civilization such as the impact with earth of a large, rocky "heavenly body" which may be averted by deploying a spacecraft to deflect it is worth serious consideration even if the immediate likelihood of an impact is very small.
 
A distinction can be made between uncertainty and risk in that the latter term always involves decision situations in which the probabilities are (very largely) known.
   
 
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