History Main / PrescienceByAnalysis

* ''Literature/TheCulture'' has AI so powerful that they can predict most anything you're going to do. So much so that one AI records it's conversation eight hours in advance.

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'': Tony (main character of ''ComicBook/IronMan'') thinks that superheroes should be forced to work under government oversight; Captain Rogers (main character of ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'') thinks that they should still be allowed to do what they think is right. All the other characters in the Marvel Universe have to take sides. Reed Richards supports Iron Man; his maths prove that lack of oversight would lead to several world-destroying disasters. This is explored even further in his own comic, ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', in which Richards and the Mad Thinker compare notes. The Mad Thinker grants that Richards' equations are far more advanced than those he could come up with, but, as he had done himself in the past, Richards committed the grave mistake of ignoring the "[[ForWantOfANail human factor]]". By being so focused on his equations, he ignored the Invisible Woman's viewpoint, who then left him to join Cap's resistance.

* The title character of Creator/RobertSilverberg's ''Literature/TheStochasticMan'' is a stochastics expert who runs an agency that predicts the future (specifically, business risks and stock exchange rates) based on hard maths -- but [[SubvertedTrope gives it up]] after meeting his mentor who can ''[[{{Seers}} actually]]'' see the future and teaches him the same.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':
** Among the many abilities granted to the Number Man is the ability to predict the future through probability, which he can use in combat to predict the moves of his enemies before they make them.
** Powers that involve future sight also act this way... no one can ''actually'' see the future, but their power can ''model'' the future (or possible futures, depending) with such precision and accuracy it hardly matters.
[[/folder]]

* Creator/MaryGentle's ''[[Literature/SixteenTenASundialInAGrave 1610: A Sundial in a Grave]]'' revolves around a form of mathematics that can predict future actions, with such precision that a mathematician with no sword-wielding aptitude is capable of winning a fight by predicting it several months in advance and then practicing the sequence of moves that will result in victory. One character turns out to be manipulating events because he's foreseen a
* In ''Literature/AvestaOfBlackAndWhite'', the strongest of the Dragvant, the side of evil, are the Seven Demon Lords. It is eventually revealed that the Seven Demon Lords are actually a result of a system imposed by Mithra to try and simulate and predict the archetypes of the future Hegemonic Gods of the ''Shinza'' verse. As their numbers indicate, she had planned for it to total at seven but as fans of the series know, things kinda went off the rails resulting in nine of them, possibly ten.catastrophe four hundred years in the future that can only be averted if he starts laying the groundwork now.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

So, how does one predict what's about to happen when there's no PsychicPowers in the setting? With probability and statistics, that's how. From the results of the next sports game to the fate of the human race, anything can be predicted, as long as we have all the background data and include it in the right equations. You don't think so? Then behold TheBigBoard! Or even the RoomFullOfCrazy! There are all the equations! Oh, sure [[EEqualsMCHammer they look like gibberish]] for the untrained eye, but the math is there. The future can be predicted with 100% accuracy, [[ForWantOfANail except for that little detail we did not consider, and which ruined the whole equation]].

Can involve SherlockScan or AwesomenessByAnalysis. Sometimes used for a PrecrimeArrest. Contrast ButterflyOfDoom.

* In ''Literature/AvestaOfBlackAndWhite'', the strongest of the Dragvant, the side of evil, are the Seven Demon Lords. It is eventually revealed that the Seven Demon Lords are actually a result of a system imposed by Mithra to try and simulate and predict the archetypes of the future Hegemonic Gods of the ''Shinza'' verse. As their numbers indicate, she had planned for it to total at seven but as fans of the series know, things kinda went off the rails resulting in nine of them, possibly ten.

* Creator/MaryGentle's ''[[Literature/SixteenTenASundialInAGrave 1610: A Sundial in a Grave]]'' revolves around a form of mathematics that can predict future actions, with such precision that a mathematician with no sword-wielding aptitude is capable of winning a fight by predicting it several months in advance and then practicing the sequence of moves that will result in victory. One character turns out to be manipulating events because he's foreseen a catastrophe four hundred years in the future that can only be averted if he starts laying the groundwork now.
* The ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' has two types of prescience, as detailed in the epilogue of ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'', one of which is essentially an ability to intuitively predict the most likely outcome of a particular chain of events based on all the minuscule clues and probabilities known by the "seer". Mikiya explains that this ability is not that different from how meteorologists predict weather.

* ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan2000'' gives Alex Mann this ability. When his adrenaline reached a peak point, he could calculate what thing to do to defuse a situation (which usually involved an [[ExtremeSportsPlot extreme sports stunt of some kind]]). This ability also gave him an uncontrollable type of precognition. Coach Grey, the man responsible for Alex's ability, has a computer that can do the same on a larger scale.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ff15_mad_thinker.jpg]]]]

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The Mad Thinker ''lives'' for this trope. It's basically his thing: use complex maths to predict the results of his plans. That, and make nigh-unstoppable robots without mind.

** In ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'', Robert House was able to predict almost the exact date that the world would be plunged into a nuclear apocalypse and would have succeeded in fully protecting Las Vegas had he not been off by just ''one day''. His ability to predict the odds and push them towards his favor is the game's way of justifying a high LuckStat, with the cybernetic implant that boosts your Luck stat being a "Probability Calculator" that lets you perceive various probabilities and choose the best one.

** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': [[FictionalFieldOfScience Psychohistory]], a set of mathematical models developed by Hari Seldon, is used to predict the future. There are certain restrictions on its ability to work as a form of prophecy: (1) [[AbsurdlyHugePopulation Predictions can only be made for societies of a minimum size]], although experts in the field have successfully wielded it on a scale as small as individual people. (2) [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee The people whose actions are being predicted can't know what the prediction is.]] (3) That there would be no fundamental changes in human society over the next thousand years. Technology could advance, but not fundamentally alter the way human civilization functioned. (4) That human reaction to stimuli would remain constant. (This assumption was challenged in "Literature/TheMule", where the antagonist had a [[{{Mutants}} mutation]] giving him EmotionControl powers.) In addition, one more premise is deduced in ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth''; [[spoiler:psychohistory only predicts human reactions, and [[BizarreAlienPsychology alien/transhuman creatures]] are not predictable]].

* ''Meteorology'' is perhaps the most important example. Forecasts of the weather date back to antiquity though accurate forecasting is a more recent phenomena. As with most examples here the accuracy of forecasts drops with distance into the future.
* The entire discipline of ''Probability and Statistics'' deal in this trope. See also the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_large_numbers Law of Large Numbers]]. This is why gambling casinos are profitable ventures: while the gambler may get lucky in an individual game or even on a wild night, over the months and hundreds of thousands of games the slight odds in the house's favor leads to a profit.
* ''Political polling'' is another huge venture where this trope is in play. Polls however are limited by sampling size, methodologies, and even when accurate they can't be certain.
* ''Astronomy''. Most would consider the motions of planets, stars and other celestial bodies to be predictable, but in truth they are only so up to a point. On time scales of millions of years the orbits of the planets in the solar system cannot be accurately predicted. Smaller bodies can be difficult to predict even within a century due to them being far more susceptible to being nudged by the gravity of planets and also by their own radiation and outgassing in the case of comets.

** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': [[FictionalFieldOfScience Psychohistory]], a set of mathematical models developed by Hari Seldon, is used to predict the future. There are certain restrictions on its ability to work as a form of prophecy; (1) [[AbsurdlyHugePopulation Predictions can only be made for societies of a minimum size]], although experts in the field have successfully wielded it on a scale as small as individual people. (2) [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee The people whose actions are being predicted can't know what the prediction is.]] (3) That there would be no fundamental changes in human society over the next thousand years. Technology could advance, but not fundamentally alter the way human civilization functioned. (4) That human reaction to stimuli would remain constant. (This assumption was challenged in "Literature/TheMule", where the antagonist had a [[{{Mutants}} mutation]] giving him EmotionControl powers.) In addition, one more premise is deduced in ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth''; [[spoiler:psychohistory only predicts human reactions, and [[BizarreAlienPsychology alien/transhuman creatures]] are not predictable]].

* The backstory of ''Anime/TheOrbitalChildren'' features an AI known as Seven, which made statistical predictions of the future known as the "Seven Poems." Seven predicted that Earth's population would be reduced by 36.79%, one of the [[AIIsACrapshoot factors]] leading to its deactivation. [[spoiler:But it later [[ProphecyTwist turned out to mean]] that they wouldn't die via a catastrophe, but leave Earth over the next several decades to live in space.]]

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar'': Tony (main character of ''ComicBook/IronMan'') thinks that superheroes should be forced to work under government oversight; Captain Rogers (main character of ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'') thinks that they should still be allowed to do what they think is right. All the other characters in the Marvel Universe have to take sides. Reed Richards supports Iron Man; his maths prove that lack of oversight would lead to several world-destroying disasters. This is explored even further in his own comic, ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', where Richards and the Mad Thinker compare notes. The Mad Thinker grants that Richards' equations are far more advanced than those he could come up with, but, as he had done himself in the past, Richards committed the grave mistake of ignoring the "[[ForWantOfANail human factor]]". By being so focused on his equations, he ignored the Invisible Woman's viewpoint, who then left him to join Cap's resistance.
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The Mad Thinker ''lives'' for this trope. That's basically his thing: use complex maths to predict the results of his plans. That, and make nigh-unstoppable robots without mind.
* In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'', ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'', and ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'', this is stated to be the "power/talent" of Amadeus Cho, the smartest kid in the world. He possesses a "hypermind" capable of making a seemingly endless number of calculations in his head within seconds, predicting what's going to happen. [[PaintingTheMedium Visually, it appears as numbers and formulas floating in mid-air.]] Later, we learn that it runs in the family as his sister Maddie can do the same thing. In ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'', this was PlayedWith, as Cho and other super-intelligent characters (such as ComicBook/{{Galactus}}) accept that the BigBad Mikaboshi is unbeatable, but [[IdiotHero Hercules refuses to accept it.]]
* ''ComicBook/ThomasValiant'' has the Ostrich who could calculate the odds of an event going to happen.
* Adrian Veidt of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is the "World's Smartest Man" and he's able to use his vast intellect to predict and anticipate changes in politics, society, culture, human psychology and by smart timing, such as publicly revealing his secret identity at a time of widespread distrust in superheroism, he is able to cultivate an image of respectability and goodwill that he uses to build an immensely successful corporation, whose resources he then taps into [[spoiler:to unleash his devastating master-plan to save the world.]] He also anticipates that the strained international tensions will cause a baby boom from the accompanying increased sexualization of the media and advises his company to invest in child care products.

* In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', Peter mentions that Reed Richards attempted this as part of his support for the Superhuman Registration Act. The problem was that it wasn't peer reviewed and [[{{Technobabble}} no one else could understand it but him]], which [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome destroys Reed's arguments when the SHRA was put on trial.]] He suffers a falling out with Sue for months afterward.

* ''Film/{{Pi}}'': Max Renn is a reclusive mathematician/numerologist who is trying to find the universal constant that will allow him to predict every pattern in nature. Specifically, a group of Wall Street bankers are funding his research to help them predict the stock market with perfect accuracy.
* In the ''Film/{{Sherlock Holmes|2009}}'' films starring Creator/RobertDowneyJr, Holmes has this as his trademark skill in combat situations. Before combat even begins, he can predict how a battle would play out to the exact mark thanks to him calculating the situation before hand. In his confrontation with Moriarty at the end of the second film, it's revealed that Moriarty has the same ability.

** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': [[FictionalFieldOfScience Psychohistory]], a set of mathematical models developed by Hari Seldon, is used to predict the future. There are certain restrictions on its ability to work as a form of prophecy; (1) [[AbsurdlyHugePopulation Predictions can only be made for societies of a minimum size]], although experts in the field have successfully wielded it on a scale as small as individual people. (2) [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee The people whose actions are being predicted can't know what the prediction is.]] (3) That there would be no fundamental changes in human society over the next thousand years. Technology could advance, but not fundamentally alter the way human civilization functioned. (4) That human reaction to stimuli would remain constant. (This assumption was challenged in "Literature/TheMule", where the antagonist had a [[{{Mutants}} mutation]] giving him EmotionControl powers.) In addition, one more premise is deduced in ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth''; [[spoiler:psychohistory only predicts human reactions, [[BizarreAlienPsychology alien, including transhuman creatures]] are not predictable]].

* Creator/RobertSilverberg's ''Literature/TheStochasticMan'': The title character is a stochastics expert who runs an agency that predicts the future (specifically, business risks and stock exchange rates) based on hard maths--but [[SubvertedTrope gives it up]] after meeting his mentor who can ''actually'' see the future and teaches him the same.
* Creator/MaryGentle's ''[[Literature/SixteenTenASundialInAGrave 1610: A Sundial in a Grave]]'': This story revolves around a form of mathematics that can predict future actions, with such precision that a mathematician with no sword-wielding aptitude is capable of winning a fight by predicting it several months in advance and then practicing the sequence of moves that will result in victory. One character turns out to be manipulating events because he's foreseen a catastrophe four hundred years in the future that can only be averted if he starts laying the groundwork now.
* The Franchise/NasuVerse has two types of prescience, as detailed in the epilogue of ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'', one of which is essentially an ability to intuitively predict the most likely outcome of a particular chain of events based on all the minuscule clues and probabilities known by the "seer". Mikiya explains that this ability is not that different from how meteorologists predict weather.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/SmallFavor'', Captain Luccio of the Wardens reveals to Harry Dresden that most of the ancient Oracles at Delphi [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy were actually previous hosts]] of the [[OmniscientDatabase Archive]], and their supposed prophecies were actually them using their vast knowledge to reason what the most likely future to happen was.

* An early villain in ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' had an intuitive understanding of cause and effect and could influence events, such as rolling a water bottle onto the road to create a massive traffic accident. Unfortunately he couldn't understand that other people did things without calculating the end results, and thought they were all plotting against him.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': In the episode "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS3E15Spacetime Spacetime]]" we meet an Inhuman who can make people see someone's death in the future just by touching them. [[YouCantFightFate Those futures can not be avoided]] (but they can be [[ProphecyTwist twisted]]). Leopold Fitz, resident genius, explains that predictions ''are'' mathematically possible.
* In ''Series/TheCape'', Tracey Jerrod (AKA Dice) has an innate understanding of quantum physics, allowing her to foresee the future to a high degree. Her father worked to map her brain in order to be able to duplicate the ability technologically. His research was stolen by Peter Fleming (AKA Chess) and, eventually, released as T.R.A.C.E., a computer program that can predict things like the stock market with incredible accuracy. Neither Dice nor T.R.A.C.E. is infallible, though.
* In season 4 of ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'', Clifford [=DeVoe=] (AKA the Thinker) gets super-intelligence as a result of the particle accelerator explosion (which he predicted). This gives him the unprecedented ability to calculate a myriad of possibilities for every action. He uses that to push Team Flash into doing things to his benefit. His only flaw is that he can't wrap his mind around human emotions and how they can affect behavior in unpredictable ways. At least one carefully-laid plan goes awry when he fails to account for that.

* The infamous [[LostTechnology LosTech]] [[AttackDrone Space Defense]] [[RobotSoldier System]] from TabletopGame/BattleTech had a component that could be installed in the larger drone units called the [[FunWithAcronyms ATAC]], short for Autonomous Tactical Analysis Computer, capable of millions of calculations per second. It allowed the robots to make predictive analysis of the battlefield, and made retaking Terra a real pain when [[TheUsurper Stephan Amaris]] took over the Terran Hedgemony and turned the SDS against the Star League.

* ''Theatre/BeMoreChill'': The Squip instructs Jeremy to buy an Eminem shirt on the first day it's active. The following day, [[spoiler: Eminem dies]], causing several students to express symapthy towards Jeremy. The Squip explains that he didn't [[spoiler: kill Eminem]], just predicted that Eminem was statistically the most well-known celebrity to most-likely [[spoiler: die the following day]].

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'':

* In ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'', [[spoiler: the final entry in Jeanne's files implies that the game's events are not happening per se. Instead it is a simulation, with Jeanne trying to use the powers of the Juno to predict the upcoming events and calculate the best possible outcome for everyone involved as well as what she needs to do to reach it. This also explains how the time is getting reversed at certain moments in the story or when you get a GameOver - it's not actually getting reversed, instead Jeanne is rolling back the simulation to an earlier point and trying things differently.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' one of [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20050321.html the Oracle's]] functions was to calculate and predict upcoming disasters. Unfortunately it needed [[AIIsACrapshoot experimental data]]. Briefly, he tries teaching Tessa some at a casino, [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20121127.html just for the laughs]].
* All sufficiently powerful Immortals can do this in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. Actually seeing into the future is impossible, but Immortals have incredible means of gathering information and get smarter with age. This means that they can extrapolate the outcome of most situations based on what they already know. Unfortunately, they also get increasingly unstable with age, leading to one mad Immortal trying to [[PrescienceIsPredictable create situations so chaotic that she can't predict the outcome.]]
* ''{{Webcomic/Sarilho}}'': How augurs see the future. ''That's not future sight, that's... Probability!'' ''[[http://sarilho.net/en/arquivo/comic/ch02p10]]''
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' the Bolocedeans manage to make some [[LudicrousPrecision incredibly]] accurate [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-05-06 inferences]] about their visitors before the visitors even arrive with only the teraport arrival of tiny sensors to herald the coming of a visitor, knowledge about the galaxy that is at least two million years out of date, and lots of computational power.
--> '''Blue:''' “The Stategic Simulation Team's report is here.”\\
'''Red:''' “Thank you. Can you tell us what's coming?”\\
'''Blue:''' “The most probable scenario is that intelligent life has evolved on the planet from which we [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs rescued]] the [[{{Ultraterrestrials}} feather-folk]]. They've [[JustForFun/AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit harnessed the power of the galactic core]] and will shortly be arriving to ask about their relatives.”\\
* beat*\\
'''Red:''' “That is probable?”\\
'''Blue:''' [[IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect “Would you like to see the math?”]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' Iron Man has a software that scans the battles and battle scenarios, and predicts the best strategy to defeat the enemy, along with the probability of success. They get in a big problem when ComicBook/RedSkull, who steals an armour in the first episode, finally finds this software and learns how to use it.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': When Bender overclocks himself, he develops the ability to predict every possible outcome. He uses this ability to stop Mom's killbots, to predict when ceiling fans would fall on Zoidberg, and write down a detailed account of the future of Fry and Leela's relationship.

* The Franchise/NasuVerse has two types of prescience, as detailed in the epilogue of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'', one of which is essentially an ability to intuitively predict the most likely outcome of a particular chain of events based on all the minuscule clues and probabilities known by the "seer". Mikiya explains that this ability is not that different from how meteorologists predict weather.

** In ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'', Robert House was able to predict almost the exact date that the world would be plunged into a nuclear apocalypse and would have succeeded in fully protecting Las Vegas had he not been off by just ''one day''. His ability to predict the odds and push them towards his favor is the game's way of justifying a high luck stat, with the cybernetic implant that boosts your Luck stat being a "Probability Calculator" that lets you perceive various probabilities and choose the best one.
--->''"Success depends on forethought, dispassionate calculation of probabilities, accounting for every stray variable."''

* The BigBad of the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' franchise, [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]], though they advertise themselves as being the Ultimate [[spoiler:Fashionista]] (and, of course, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Ultimate Despair]]), their actual talent is [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Ultimate Analyst]]. Their analytical ability is so great that they can basically predict the future ([[spoiler:which is how she can be the Ultimate Fashionista, as she can predict what fashion trends are about to take off and get in on them early]]). This ability, however, has left them extremely bored with the world, since nothing comes as a surprise to them. This is what led them to become obsessed with the emotion of despair, as it is the one thing they found that makes people act in ways even ''they'' can't predict, and is therefore the only thing even remotely interesting or exciting to them. [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair The second game]] has another example in [[spoiler:Izuru Kamukura]], who is this by virtue of having ''[[UltimateLifeForm every single talent known to man]]'' and has fallen into a level of boredom rivaling even the BigBad's.

* ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'': Shiro is a ChildProdigy capable of high level calculations. While her skills are useful in a lot of the games she and Sora compete together in, one of her greatest uses for it is in the realm of FPS games. After acquiring enough information, she can predict the movement and actions of her opponents to such an extent that to others she seems like she can see into the future. It's only when her opponents cheat that her calculations fail.

-->-- '''[[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-03-11 Petey]]''', ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''

* The backstory of ''Anime/TheOrbitalChildren'' features an AI known as Seven, which made statistical predictions of the future known as the "Seven Poems." Seven predicted that Earth's population would be reduced by 36.79%, one of the [[AIIsACrapshoot factors]] leading to its deactivation. [[spoiler: But it later [[ProphecyTwist turned out to mean]] that they wouldn't die via a catastrophe, but leave Earth over the next several decades to live in space.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those [[YouMeddlingKids meddling]] ComicBook/FantasticFour!]]

* In ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'', ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'', and ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'', this is stated to be the "power/talent" of Amadeus Cho, the smartest kid in the world. He possesses a "hypermind" capable of making a seemingly endless number of calculations in his head within seconds, predicting what's going to happen. [[PaintingTheMedium Visually, it appears as numbers and formulas floating in mid-air.]] Later, we learn that it runs in the family as his sister Maddie can do the same thing. In ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'', this was PlayedWith, as Cho and other super-intelligent characters (such as ComicBook/{{Galactus}}) accept that the BigBad Mikaboshi is unbeatable, but [[IdiotHero Hercules refuses to accept it.]]