law of averages

noun
1.
a statistical principle formulated by Jakob Bernoulli to show a more or less predictable ratio between the number of random trials of an event and its occurrences.
2.
Informal. the principle that, in the long run, probability as naively conceived will operate and influence any one occurrence.
Examples from the web for law of averages
  • It is simply the law of averages catching up to the organization.
  • Personal liberties are not rooted in the law of averages.
  • But he also faces the grim law of averages which allows few champions in golf to repeat.
  • The screeners are human, and the law of averages says that something bad is bound to happen to you eventually.
British Dictionary definitions for law of averages

law of averages

noun
1.
(popularly) the expectation that a possible event is bound to occur regularly with a frequency approximating to its probability, as in the (actually false) example: after five heads in a row the law of averages makes tails the better bet Compare law of large numbers
Idioms and Phrases with law of averages

law of averages

The idea that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term, that one will neither win nor lose all of the time. For example, If it rains every day this week, by the law of averages we're bound to get a sunny day soon. This colloquial term is a popular interpretation of a statistical principle, Bernoulli's theorem, formulated in the late 1600s.