The most common example of a prediction is the weather forecast. Studying how weather happens lets people predict what the weather will be by looking at what is currently happening. This is helpful because by knowing that it is going to rain, a person can wear the right clothes for it.
Nostradamus has made many predictions about the future.
Probability
Probability is a part of applied mathematics. It has to do with chance, the study of things that might happen or might not happen.
For example, using probability, one can show that by throwing a coin up in the air and letting it land, half of the time it will land with one side facing up, and half of the time with the other side facing up. Many coins have a picture of the face of a famous person on one side, and something else on the other side. Often people call the side with the face "heads", and the other side "tails".
The probability (p) of an event "E", written formula_1, is always between zero (impossible) and one (certain).
If we roll a die (plural: dice), then the chance that it will land on 1 is 1/6 (because there are 6 numbers on a die). Similarly, the chance it will land on 2 is also 1/6. The chance it will land on any number between 1 and 6 is 1, because every time we roll the die, it will always land on a number between 1 and 6.
Probability can be figured out using mathematics. For example, if one rolls six dice, the chance of them getting a number more than ten is not obvious, but can be figured out using math and science.
One of the most interesting things about chance is that to figure out the probability that two things will both happen, one usually multiply their two probabilities together. For example, suppose that one wants to know the probability of rolling two dice and getting a certain combination (it could be two 6s or a 3 then a 5, just any two). The possibility of getting a 3 is one in six (⅙), and the possibility of getting a 5 is also one in six, so the chances of getting a 3 then a 5 is ⅙×⅙=⅟36. If that number is expressed as somewhere between 0 and 1, it equals 0.027...7, which is fairly low. The possibility of getting a 3, then a 5, and then a 2 would be ⅙×⅙×⅙=⅟216 or 0.00463, which is a much lower probability.
People like Jacob Bernoulli, Pierre-Simon Laplace, or Christiaan Huygens used the word probability, as described above. Other people thought about frequencies; the notion of probability is usually called frequency probability.
Probability experiment
A probability experiment is a situation where chance affects the result of an experiment. If the experiment can only have two outcomes, it is named Bernoulli trial. A coin flip is a probability experiment because chance affects whether a coin will land heads or tails when it is flipped.
Protein
Proteins are long-chain molecules built from small units known as amino acids. They are joined together with peptide bonds.
They are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides folded into a round or fibrous shape.
A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids. The sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide comes from the DNA sequence of a gene. The genetic code specifies 20 standard amino acids. Shortly after synthesis, some amino acids are chemically modified. This alters the folding, stability, activity, and function of the protein. Sometimes proteins have non-peptide groups attached, as cofactors.
Proteins are essential to all cells. Like other biological macromolecules (polysaccharides and nucleic acids), proteins take part in virtually every process in cells:
Proteins are formed via a process called "Protein synthesis". In this process the cell reads the genetic information of the DNA and translates it into a protein. In eukaryotes, this process begins in the Nucleus and ends in the ribosome. In procaryotes all of it is done in the cytoplasm. The general concept is exactly the same for every living being.
Proteins have different functions depending on their shape. They can be found in meat or muscle. They are used for growth and repair, as well as for strengthening the bones. They help to make tissue and cells. They are in animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and also in the human body.
Muscles contain a lot of protein. When protein is digested, it is broken down into amino acids. These amino acids can then be used to build new protein. Proteins form an important part in foods like milk, eggs, meat, fish, beans, spinach, and nuts. There are four factors that determine what a protein will do. The first is the order of the amino acids. There are 20 different types of amino acids. The second is the little twists in the chain. The third is how the entire structure is folded up. The fourth is whether it is made up of different sub-units. Haemoglobin molecules, for example, are made of four sub-units.
Most proteins are enzymes, and mutations may slow them or stop them working. 50% of human cancers are caused by mutations in the tumour suppressor p53. p53 is a protein which regulates cell division.
Proteins are necessary in an animal's diets, since animals cannot make all the amino acids they need (they can make most of them). They must get certain amino acids from food. These are called the "essential amino acids". Through digestion, animals break down ingested protein into free amino acids. The amino acids are then used in metabolism to make the enzymes and structures the body needs.
There are nine essential amino acids for humans, which are obtained from food. The nine essential amino acids are: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Meat contains all the essential amino acids humans need; most plants do not. However, eating a mixture of plants, such as both wheat "and" peanut butter, or rice "and" beans, provides all the essential amino acids needed. Soy products like tofu provide all the essential amino acids—as does quinoa—but these are not the only way to get the protein humans need.
The scientist Jöns Jacob Berzelius gave proteins their name, but many other scientists have studied proteins.
Periodic table
The periodic table of the chemical elements is a list of known chemical elements. In the table, the elements are placed in the order of their atomic numbers starting with the lowest number of one, hydrogen. The atomic number of an element is the same as the number of protons in that particular nucleus of an atom. In the periodic table the elements are arranged into "periods" and "groups." A row of elements across the table is called a "period". Each period has a number; from 1 to 8. Period 1 has only 2 elements in it: hydrogen and helium. Period 2 and Period 3 both have 8 elements. Other periods are longer. Elements in a period have consecutive atomic numbers.
A column of elements down the table is called a "group". There are 18 groups in the standard periodic table. Each group has a number: from 1 to 18. Elements in a group have electrons arranged in similar ways, according to the number of valency electrons, which gives them similar chemical properties (they behave in similar ways). For example, group 18 is known as the noble gases because they are all gases and they do not combine with other atoms.
There are two systems of group numbers; one using Arabic numerals (1,2,3) and the other using Roman numerals (I, II, III). The Roman numeral names were used in most of the 20th century. In 1990 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) decided to use the new system with Arabic numerals, to replace the two old group systems that used Roman numerals.