| 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. |
| law of averages n. The principle holding that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term. |
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.