Million-to-one chance - Revision history

AnnieBudgie at 04:10, 23 April 2016

2016-04-23T04:10:01Z

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	[[The Lady]] may be the [[Anthropomorphic personification]] of Million-to-one chances.		[[The Lady]] may be the [[Anthropomorphic personification]] of Million-to-one chances.

			In ''Guards! Guards!'' [[Fred Colon]], [[Carrot Ironfoundersson]] and [[Nobby Nobbs]] try to invoke the million-to-one chance to hit the dragon in the right spot to kill it. To ensure it ''is'' million-to-one, rather then something else, they end up trying a whole bunch of improbable circumstances to make it work. It doesn't work, unfortunately, so it must not have been quite a million-to-one chance...

	Also see the [[Billion-to-One Chance]].		Also see the [[Billion-to-One Chance]].

AgProv: one of those single-letter correctinos that make all the difference...

2014-11-25T22:21:07Z

one of those single-letter correctinos that make all the difference...

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	"That was lucky. Million-to-one chance!" said [[Brutha]].		"That was lucky. Million-to-one chance!" said [[Brutha]].

	There is also a racehorse with this name. The owners knew what they are doing: the odds on victory must be 1,000,000/1. But this horse wins nine times out of ten. Stewards' inquiries are pending, however. Prudent bookies point out that in this special instance of probability, the odds on this horse winning are effectively 1/1 and that's ''exactly'' what you're getting, guvnor. put a dollar on, get a ~~ollar~~ back, next customer please!		There is also a racehorse with this name. The owners knew what they are doing: the odds on victory must be 1,000,000/1. But this horse wins nine times out of ten. Stewards' inquiries are pending, however. Prudent bookies point out that in this special instance of probability, the odds on this horse winning are effectively 1/1 and that's ''exactly'' what you're getting, guvnor. put a dollar on, get a dollar back, next customer please!

AgProv: A licence to make money... or "sod the maths, we fix the odds".

2014-11-25T21:58:54Z

A licence to make money... or "sod the maths, we fix the odds".

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	"That was lucky. Million-to-one chance!" said [[Brutha]].		"That was lucky. Million-to-one chance!" said [[Brutha]].

			There is also a racehorse with this name. The owners knew what they are doing: the odds on victory must be 1,000,000/1. But this horse wins nine times out of ten. Stewards' inquiries are pending, however. Prudent bookies point out that in this special instance of probability, the odds on this horse winning are effectively 1/1 and that's ''exactly'' what you're getting, guvnor. put a dollar on, get a ollar back, next customer please!

Osiris: 1 revision: Discworld import 2

2012-09-24T00:05:26Z

1 revision: Discworld import 2

← Older revision	Revision as of 00:05, 24 September 2012
(No difference)

Confusion at 03:22, 23 October 2011

2011-10-23T03:22:30Z

New page

In the fragile reality of Discworld, and with [[the gods]] who like to play games, a '''million-to-one chance''' succeeds nine times out of ten.

Traditionally, one has to say "it's a million-to-one chance, but it might just work!" to invoke this rule. It also has to be exactly a million to one - none of this fiddly "995,351 to 1" business, or whatever other number you might end up with. So while the list of things that people have accomplished with million to one chances is quite impressive, the list of things they have failed to accomplish with odds a few percentage points off in either direction is probably a lot longer and involves a lot more fatalities.

The deity of the Million-to-one chance (and all the other ones as well) is [[The Lady]]. Just... don't invoke her directly.

In ''Eric'' it is a million to one chance that Rincewind will escape the Dungeon Dimensions.

In ''The Last Hero'' [[Ponder Stibbons]] employs the million to one chance to rescue the kite.

[[The Lady]] may be the [[Anthropomorphic personification]] of Million-to-one chances.

Also see the [[Billion-to-One Chance]].

== Million-to-one chances that came off nine times out of ten:- ==

The Great God [[Om]] in {{SG}}:- "Landed on a pile of dirt in your ''garden''. That's eagles for you. Whole place made of rock and paved with rock and built on a big rock, and they miss."

"That was lucky. Million-to-one chance!" said [[Brutha]].

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[[Category:Discworld concepts]]