haha @#16 you OWN!

actually, #16 the reason you give for why the plane isn't less likely to crash is exactly why it is. If you flip a coin once and there is a 50/50 chance it will land on a given side, the next time you flip it chances are it will be the other one, hence a 50/50 chance. The same is true for the opposite. Since a plane from the airline crashed, it is then more likely that another airline will have a plane crash then that airline will have another plane crash. This is because the airline has a 50% chance of having a plane crash, whereas other airlines have .5^n chance that they won't have a plane crash, where n is the number of times that a plane has not crashed. This means that other airlines have a substantially higher chance of having planes crash. It is basic mathematics and probability. Before you tell people they are dumb for believing in probability, you should probably think about your argument first. As for you #17, way to neither input anything constructive or think about the very point you are supporting.

#18 this is getting fun.. you're wrong. I'm not exactly sure how to explain what you just said, but I'll try. You said, "If you flip a coin once and there is a 50/50 chance it will land on a given side, the next time you flip it chances are it will be the other one, hence a 50/50 chance." I want everyone to read that very carefully. That's not what a 50/50 chance means. It means that EVERY TIME you flip the coin, there is an EQUAL CHANCE that it will land on either side. Two events, let's say H and T, are independent because when one of them happens, it doesn't affect the other one happening or not. That means that it doesn't matter what happens on one flip, the next flip has the same percentage. You just said if you flip a coin and it lands on one side (let's say heads for the sake of argument), then the next time you flip it chances are it will be on the other side. That means that according to you, it will probably land on tails on the second flip, because the first one was heads. That's not true. If you flip a coin twice, the chance of it being heads both times is 25%. That's the probability BEFORE we flipped the coin. But that's not what we're talking about. Once we flip the coin the first time, the next flip has a 50% chance that it will land on heads. Each flip has a 50% (or 50/50) chance. If you flip a coin once, there is a 50% chance it will be heads. If you flip a coin again, there is still a 50% chance it will come up heads. The first plane crash already happened, and the chance that it will happen again is exactly the same. If I was asking about the probability that it would crash twice in a row, then you're right.. it would be an exponentially smaller percentage. But I'm not talking about the probability that it will crash twice in a row, I'm talking about the probability that it will crash. Math is my major, idiot. "Before you tell people they are dumb for believing in probability, you should probably think about your argument first." What the hell are you talking about? I'm not telling people they're dumb for "believing" in probability. Probability is not a religion. Like you said, it's basic math. Unfortunately for you, however, you apparently cannot do basic math. Overall, I give you a C, only for effort though. "This is because the airline has a 50% chance of having a plane crash..." Wow if an airline had a 50% chance of crashing I would never fly again. Let's do this again sometime.

And don't make fun of #17.. he's the shit. Instead, let's now focus on your grammar. If you're going to use "neither," the you must also use "nor." You said "way to [NEITHER] input anything constructive [OR] think about the very point you are supporting." FAIL.

jsmith1199 is completely right. It's simple probability, you don't even have to be a math major, you have to have common sense and basic education. I almost feel like huntergreen was joking, though, because that 50/50 statement made so little sense my head hurt trying to see some logic in it.

It's got **** all to do with probability to be frank... The big bosses of the airline are up in the conference room saying "Oh shit, one of our planes crashed, we should really do something about that......... Nah lets just leave it up to the GODS OF FATE!!!!!!"

hah, people argue over the stupidest stuff

OMG better not fly! get over it. everyone lived. riding in a planes is safer then driving a ca.r people just freak out for no reason.

#18 shut up. no one cares. and probability is really stupid anyway cuz it doesn't actually change anything. say the first time you flip a coin you get heads the next time its just as likel that you get heads cuz the first flip doesnt affect the second one. and its just as likely to get all tails as it is to get any other combination.

fyl? what about the people in the plane that landed in the Hudson River? they were probably scared to death (hm, i didn't mean that literally, but that could've happened!), thinking that they might not ever see their families and what not ever again. SELFISH! hahahaha. i mean, i would be freaked out, but i would feel bad for those people, too.