Uncertainty

Definition

Uncertainty or incertitude refers to situations involving imperfect or unknown information. It applies to predictions of future events, to physical measurements that are already made, or to the unknown, and is particularly relevant for decision-making. Uncertainty arises in partially observable or stochastic or complex or dynamic environments, as well as due to ignorance, indolence, or both. It arises in any number of fields, including insurance, philosophy, physics, statistics, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, medicine, psychology, sociology, engineering, metrology, meteorology, ecology and information science.

Related concepts

AI alignment A Treatise on Probability A priori and a posteriori Academic Skepticism Acatalepsy Accident Accident insurance Accidental death and dismemberment insurance Accuracy and precision Act of God Actual cash value Actuarial science Actuary Adverse selection Ambiguity American Journal of Botany Analytic–synthetic distinction Anthropogenic hazard Aporia Applied epistemology Aristotle Aviation insurance Banker (ancient)Bayesian inference Bayesian statistics Belief Benefit society Boiler insurance Bond insurance Bow tie analysis Brady Haran Brainstorming Builder's risk insurance Business continuity planning Business impact analysis Business interruption insurance Business overhead expense disability insurance Business owner's policy Business risks CODATA Calibrated probability assessment Cambridge University Press Cancellation (insurance)Cash value Casualty insurance Catastrophe bond Catastrophic crop insurance Cause-and-effect analysis Cause and consequence analysis Cause of action Certainty Checklist Chemical element Claims adjuster Climate change Climate change and insurance in the United States Climate change deniers Climate risk insurance Co-insurance Code of Hammurabi Cognitive psychology Coherentism Collateral protection insurance Collegium (ancient Rome)Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission Complexity Computer science Confidence interval Conflict (process)Connectionism Contents insurance Contextualism Contingency plan Cooperative Cooperative banking Copayment Corporate governance Corpus Juris Civilis Cost/benefit analysis Countermeasure Country risk Credit risk Credit union Crisis management Crop insurance Cyber insurance Daniel Ellsberg Data Data management David Hume Decision-making Decision theory Decision tree Deductible Delphi method Democracy Dempster–Shafer theory Dennis Lindley Dental insurance Deposit insurance Digest (Roman law)Directors and officers liability insurance Disability insurance Disaster management Disaster risk reduction Disease management (health)Distributed Multi-Agent Reasoning System Diversification (finance)Dogmatism EMBO Rep.Earthquake insurance Ecology Economics Edmund Gettier Empiricism Engineering Enterprise risk management Entrepreneurship Epistemic cognition Epistemic modal logic Epistemology Error Error bar Event tree analysis Evolutionary epistemology Exchange rate risk Execution risk Expatriate insurance Expectation (epistemic)Experience Explanation of benefits Exposure assessment Extended warranty External risk Extreme risk FN curve Failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis Failure mode and effects analysis Fallibilism Fault tree analysis Fideism Fidelity bond Finance Financial market Financial risk Financial risk management Flood insurance Force majeure Formal epistemology Fossil fuels Foundationalism Frank Knight Frank Luntz Fraternal order Friendly society Further research is needed Fuzzy logic Fuzzy set theory GAP insurance Gambling Game Game theory Gaussian distribution General average Global catastrophic risk Global warming Governance, risk management, and compliance Group insurance Guilds (insurance)Hamlet Hazard Hazard analysis Hazard analysis and critical control points Hazard and operability study Hazard map Health insurance Health insurance costs in the United States Health insurance coverage in the United States Health insurance in the United States Health insurance marketplace Health risk Hedge (finance)Heisenberg uncertainty principle Hellenistic philosophy Historical epistemology History of insurance Home insurance Human reliability ISO ISO/IEC 31010 ISO 31000 IT risk IUPAC Identity and access management Ignorance Immanuel Kant Incident management Income protection insurance Indemnity Index-based insurance Infallibilism Infinitism Information Information deficit model Information entropy Information science Information theory Inland marine insurance Insurability Insurable interest Insurance Insurance-linked security Insurance bad faith Insurance broker Insurance cycle Insurance fraud Insurance in Australia Insurance in India Insurance in Pakistan Insurance in Serbia Insurance in the United Kingdom Insurance in the United States Insurance industry in China Insurance law Insurance policy Interest rate insurance Interest rate risk Internal control Interval finite element Interview (research)Itzhak Gilboa Jean-Jacques Laffont John Kay (economist)John Quiggin John Wiley & Sons Joseph Halpern Justification (epistemology)Kidnap and ransom insurance Knightian uncertainty Knowledge Labour law Landlords' insurance Layers of protection analysis Laziness Legal expenses insurance Legal risk Lenders mortgage insurance Liability insurance Life insurance Liquidity risk List of countries by health insurance coverage List of elements by atomic mass List of epistemologists London Review of Books Long-term care insurance Longevity insurance Lotfi A. Zadeh MIT Press Macro risk Margin of error Marine insurance Market risk Markov analysis Martin Creed Meaning (philosophy)Measurement uncertainty Measuring instruments Medicine Mervyn King, Baron King of Lothbury Metaepistemology Meteorology Metrology Michael Smithson (author)Model risk Monte Carlo simulation Morphological analysis (problem-solving)Mortgage insurance Mortgage life insurance Multi-criteria decision analysis Multi-peril crop insurance Mutual organization Mutual savings bank NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology National health insurance Natural disaster Natural risk Naturalized epistemology No-fault insurance Normal distribution Occupational safety and health Operational risk Operational risk management Opportunity cost Optimization Out-of-pocket expense Outline of epistemology Outline of finance Over-redemption insurance Palgrave Macmillan Parametric insurance Partially observable Payment protection insurance Perspectivism Pet insurance Peter Norvig Philosophical skepticism Philosophy Philosophy of perception Philosophy of science Physics Physics Today Political risk Political risk insurance Politics Pollution insurance Pragmatism Precautionary principle Prize indemnity insurance Pro rata Probabilities Probability Probability density function Probability distribution Probability theory Problem of induction Problem solving Professional liability insurance Profit risk Project risk management Propagation of uncertainty Property insurance Protection and indemnity insurance Proximate cause Psychology Psychosocial hazard Public auto insurance Pyrrho Pyrrhonism Quality management Quantum mechanics Random variables Randomness Rare events Rationalism Rationality Reason Reasoning system Regulatory compliance Reinsurance Relativism Reliability centered maintenance Renters' insurance René Descartes Replacement value Reputational damage Reputational risk Residual risk Richard J Arend (author)Risk Risk Matrix Risk appetite Risk assessment Risk communication Risk index Risk management Risk pool Risk–benefit ratio Rochdale Principles Roman burial society Root cause analysis Safety hazard Satellite insurance Savings and loan association Scenario analysis Scenario optimization Scenario planning Schrödinger's cat Science journalism Scientific consensus Scientific modelling Sebastian Thrun Security Security management Self-insurance Sextus Empiricus Shipping insurance Sigma Significant figure Significant figures Situated Sneak circuit analysis Social epistemology Social insurance Sociology Solipsism Springer-Verlag Standard deviation Standard error (statistics)Statistical Statistical mechanics Statistics Stochastic Stochastic optimization Strategic management Strategic risk Stress management Structuralism (philosophy of science)Structured What If Technique Subjective logic Supply chain risk management Surety Surprisal Swiss cheese model Syndicate Systematic error Systemic risk Takaful Term life insurance Terrorism insurance The Scientist (magazine)Threat (computer)Threat assessment Title insurance Total loss Total permanent disability insurance Toxicity Trade credit insurance Trade union Travel insurance Truth Tuition insurance Udacity Umbrella insurance Uncertain data Uncertain database Uncertainty (film)Uncertainty principle Uncertainty propagation Uncertainty quantification Uncertainty tolerance Underinsured Underwriting Underwriting profit Unitised insurance fund Unity of knowledge and action Universal life insurance University of Chicago University of Nottingham Vagueness Value of life Variable universal life insurance Variance Vehicle insurance Vehicle insurance in France Vehicle insurance in the United States Virtue epistemology Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity Vulnerability Vulnerability (computing)Vulnerability management Wang Yangming War risk insurance Warning system Weather forecast Weather insurance Western philosophy Whole life insurance Willard Van Orman Quine William MacAskill Wisdom Workers' compensation

19 concepts already in your glossary