Absolute Dating Uses ________ to Estimate How Old a Fossil

question 47

Multiple Choice

Absolute dating uses ________ to estimate how old a fossil is.

• A) depth within rock layers
• B) radioactive isotopes
• C) a molecular clock
• D) structural features
• E) embryonic structures

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Definitions:

Poisson Distribution

A distribution quantifying the chances of a specific amount of occurrences happening within a set period or spatial region.

Probability

A measure of the likelihood that a certain event will occur, expressed as a number between 0 and 1, where 0 indicates impossibility and 1 indicates certainty.

Sales

The exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.

Poisson Approximation

A statistical technique used to estimate the probability of a given number of events happening in a fixed interval of time or space, assuming these events occur with a known constant mean rate and independently of the time since the last event.