What defines theoretical probability?

The definition of theoretical probability is best captured by the concept of the ratio of favorable outcomes to total possible outcomes. In theoretical probability, you calculate the likelihood of an event occurring based on all the possible outcomes in a given scenario. This concept is foundational in probability theory and emphasizes the mathematical formulation of chances without conducting physical experiments.

When determining the theoretical probability of an event, you count how many outcomes would be favorable for that event to happen and divide that by the total number of possible outcomes in the sample space. For example, if you are rolling a six-sided die and want to calculate the probability of rolling a 3, there is one favorable outcome (rolling a 3) out of six total possible outcomes (1 through 6). Therefore, the theoretical probability is 1/6.

This definition does not pertain to actual outcomes from experiments, which relate more to empirical probability, nor does it consider the idea of equal likelihood for all outcomes or the minimum number of outcomes, which are separate concepts in the broader field of probability.