It is extremely difficult to predict the outcome of any shot due to the myriad of factors affecting the ball: the very shape, size, weight, surface and compactness of the ball all contribute to how it responds to being stuck by the mallet, the attributes of which must also be figured in the equation: weight, density of the wood or plastic, configuration of the face or hitting surface. Combine with this the state of the course upon which the game is being played, whether or not it is grass or artificial turf, length of the grass, levelness of the overall course, and the weather! Humidity, air density (playing in Denver will be different than in Newport), temperature, wind, sun will all affect how the balls respond. Fortunately, players need to be adaptable from one shot to the next and may be able to just take the shot and not be overly concerned about the individual variables affecting any given game. All players will be affected by the course and weather in the same way on any particular day. (see Chapter on Weather).

A technical term that describes how well we can predict the future seasonal climate in a particular region. In a region with high predictability (mainly in the tropics) we can make good forecasts of what the climate will be in the next season given what is happening now. There is no place on Earth that has perfect predictability. There are also some places that have no predictability at all.

property of a research system (e.g., an animal model) to mimic human physiology. A model of high predictability provides researchers with results that are closer to those they would obtain directly if they could perform the experiments in humans.

The extent to which future states of a system may be predicted based on knowledge of current and past states of the system. Since knowledge of the system's past and current states is generally imperfect, as are the models that utilize this knowledge to produce a prediction, predictability is inherently limited. Even with arbitrarily accurate models and observations, there may still be limits to the predictability of a physical system. See chaos.

An alternative term for Confidence.

Some data mining vendors use predictability of associations or sequences to mean the same as confidence.

the quality of being predictable

The quality of being able to correctly predict a system's state.

The probability of loss that is used to calculate the basic premium rate in insurance.

Support for the user to determine the effect of a future action based on the past interaction history .