Edward Deadwood
Well-Known Member
I know I made some rough estimated predications yesterday and earlier today about how unlikely multiple false positives on a Lateral Flow Test might be. Now I have finally/sadly crunched the numbers for real, it seems I actually over-estimated the likelihood of multiple falsely positive Lateral Flow Tests occurring at Liverpool recently.
I appreciate I've been banging on about this, but just so everyone is clear (those with lives look away now) here is my working:
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has made it clear that a positive indication on a lateral flow test is correct 9,997 times out of 10,000 (that is, subsequent PCR tests have proved them to be correct). In fact, they are so reliable (from a positive test point of view at least) that producing one has removed the need to take any further confirmatory test (e.g. a PCR) as was previously government policy.
The probability of suffering a false positive on a LFT is 3 in 10,000. I read today that the UKHSA are saying that, so far as the new Omicron version goes, getting a false positive for that strain is ten times even less likely than it was for Delta i.e. the probability, i.e. occurrence, of false positives on LFT's for Omicron is a vanishingly small 3 in 100,000.
For those that care, calculate the probability of Liverpool players encountering just three false positives in a row when taking an LFT from those in circulation in this country.
That is (3/10000)*(3/10000)*(3*10000)
i.e. (0.0003) x (0.0003) x (0.0003)
That comes to 2.7 times in 100 billion i.e. 2.7 times such a scenario would arise in 100,000,000,000 times of trying it.
To get 15 false positive lateral flow tests on the bounce you would multiple the chance of it occurring just the once i.e. 0.0003 and that happening on 14 subsequent occasions. You would multiple 0.0003 by the probability of producing another false positive LFT test which remains the same (i.e. 0.0003) and do so with the results of that sum a further 14 times. That is 0.0003 to the power of 15.
It produces such a small chance of probability (it has 54 0's after the decimal point before you get 1435) that it is the equivalent of every star in the universe (higher estimate to be 10^24 which is 1 with 24 zero's after it) being multiplied by the same number, and then the produce of that little lot multiplied a mere 10,000 further times for further good measure.
There is a 1.435 chance in 10 to the power 54 chance (a 1 with 54 zeros after it) of drawing out 15 false positive randomly selected Lateral Flow Tests on the bounce.
I appreciate that not all 15 had to be on the trot and that they could play 9 jokers (no false positive tests) in amongst those to make up the squad of 24. I will let a better man than me work out this precisely chances of encountering 15 false positive LFTs out of a squad of 24, it's clearly slightly less than I have indicated with the above illustration. It's a long time know since I did O' level maths. You did your best Mr Meakin!
So, if the batches of lateral flow tests did not prove to be faulty, Liverpool might simply have just been a little unlucky in this incidence. If it's often the case with them I hear.
I appreciate I've been banging on about this, but just so everyone is clear (those with lives look away now) here is my working:
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has made it clear that a positive indication on a lateral flow test is correct 9,997 times out of 10,000 (that is, subsequent PCR tests have proved them to be correct). In fact, they are so reliable (from a positive test point of view at least) that producing one has removed the need to take any further confirmatory test (e.g. a PCR) as was previously government policy.
The probability of suffering a false positive on a LFT is 3 in 10,000. I read today that the UKHSA are saying that, so far as the new Omicron version goes, getting a false positive for that strain is ten times even less likely than it was for Delta i.e. the probability, i.e. occurrence, of false positives on LFT's for Omicron is a vanishingly small 3 in 100,000.
For those that care, calculate the probability of Liverpool players encountering just three false positives in a row when taking an LFT from those in circulation in this country.
That is (3/10000)*(3/10000)*(3*10000)
i.e. (0.0003) x (0.0003) x (0.0003)
That comes to 2.7 times in 100 billion i.e. 2.7 times such a scenario would arise in 100,000,000,000 times of trying it.
To get 15 false positive lateral flow tests on the bounce you would multiple the chance of it occurring just the once i.e. 0.0003 and that happening on 14 subsequent occasions. You would multiple 0.0003 by the probability of producing another false positive LFT test which remains the same (i.e. 0.0003) and do so with the results of that sum a further 14 times. That is 0.0003 to the power of 15.
It produces such a small chance of probability (it has 54 0's after the decimal point before you get 1435) that it is the equivalent of every star in the universe (higher estimate to be 10^24 which is 1 with 24 zero's after it) being multiplied by the same number, and then the produce of that little lot multiplied a mere 10,000 further times for further good measure.
There is a 1.435 chance in 10 to the power 54 chance (a 1 with 54 zeros after it) of drawing out 15 false positive randomly selected Lateral Flow Tests on the bounce.
I appreciate that not all 15 had to be on the trot and that they could play 9 jokers (no false positive tests) in amongst those to make up the squad of 24. I will let a better man than me work out this precisely chances of encountering 15 false positive LFTs out of a squad of 24, it's clearly slightly less than I have indicated with the above illustration. It's a long time know since I did O' level maths. You did your best Mr Meakin!
So, if the batches of lateral flow tests did not prove to be faulty, Liverpool might simply have just been a little unlucky in this incidence. If it's often the case with them I hear.