Difference between Likely & Not Unlikely

[LauraS737]

What is the difference between Likely and Not Unlikely. I noticed that in the Assumption Chapter of the LR strategy guide the negation of unlikely is not unlikely, and am kind of confused as to why it's not jus likely. Also, what is the exact meaning of likely (50% or higher chance?).

Thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

Yeah, "likely" means "greater than 50% chance".

WORDS THAT MEAN "more than 50%"
most
a majority
usually
tends to
generally
likely
probably


WORDS THAT MEAN "less than 50%"
unlikely
few
rarely
uncommon
infrequently

If you're negating anything from that first group, you're saying "It's NOT more than 50%. Thus, it's 50% or less".

"not likely" and "unlikely" are the same, except the former allows for 50% and the latter does not.

(In math, "nonnegative" and "positive" are the same, except the former allows for '0' and the latter does not)

But when people negate "most" or "likely", they (including me) mostly cheat and just switch to "most aren't" or "unlikely".

I've never seen a question where it was important for us to preserve the possibility of 50% that would otherwise get lost in translation during negating.