From the course: Everyday Statistics, with Eddie Davila

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Earthquakes

Earthquakes

From the course: Everyday Statistics, with Eddie Davila

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Earthquakes

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- [Instructor] For those that live near fault lines, the unpredictability of earthquakes can create periodic anxiety. When will the next earthquake occur? Will it be life-altering, or just a scary inconvenience? Take California as an example, a place known for both earthquakes and movie making. It's so top of mind that every few years, they'll make a blockbuster earthquake movie. It makes sense, I guess. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the probability of California experiencing a devastating 8.0 or higher earthquake in the next 30 years is 7%. I'm not sure if that's scary or not. And since predictive earthquake models have a history of being poor at best, most folks aren't even sure how accurate those estimates are. With so much uncertainty, statistics are one of our primary tools in trying to understand this unpredictable phenomenon. But still, data is difficult to collect. Earth is 4.5 billion years old and yet, a search of the world's biggest earthquakes typically only…

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