False positives and false negatives

Imagine you're playing a game where you have to guess if there is a hidden treasure behind a door. You have two options: to say that there is a treasure (positive) or that there isn't (negative).

Now, sometimes there will be a treasure behind the door, and you will say "yes, there is a treasure" - that's a true positive. Other times there will be no treasure, and you will correctly say "no, there is no treasure" - that's a true negative.

But sometimes, even though there is no treasure, you might say "yes, there is a treasure" - that's a false positive. Similarly, you might say "no, there is no treasure" even when there is one, and that's a false negative.

To put it simply, false positives are wrong guesses that say something is true when it's actually false, while false negatives are wrong guesses that say something is false when it's actually true.

For example, in medical tests, a false positive would be if the test shows that a person has an illness when they don't, leading to unnecessary treatment or worry. A false negative, on the other hand, would be if the test shows that a person is healthy when they actually have the illness, leading to a missed diagnosis and delayed treatment. It's important to minimize both false positives and false negatives to ensure accurate results.