B About the naive definition of probability

Click For Summary
The naive definition of probability requires equally likely outcomes and is limited to finite sample spaces. A biased coin cannot be accurately modeled using this definition, as it does not produce equally likely results for heads and tails. While one could create multiple events for heads to fit the model, these do not represent observable differences. Despite being labeled "naive," this definition is fundamental for understanding basic probability problems. However, it is insufficient for addressing more complex scenarios in probability theory.
red65
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
hello, I took an introductory course about statistics, we viewed the naive definition of probability which says "it requires equally likely outcomes and can't handle an infinite sample space ", I understood that it requires finite sample space but I didn't understand "equally likely outcomes ", does it mean that if we have a coin with no equally likely heads and tales that do not satisfy the naive definition?
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
That's right, a biased coin cannot be modeled as two events, one heads and one tails, because in the naive model all events are equally likely.

You can kind of jam it in if you squint, e.g. ifthe coin is 2/3 to be heads, then have events H1 and H2 which are both the coin landing heads, and T which is the coin landing tails. But H1 vs H2 is not an observable difference.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Likes red65 and PeroK
ok, thanks a lot!
 
You can call it "naive" but it is an important, basic subset of the problems. And many problems are a series of steps where each step is of that type. But it will not get you very far; there are too many problems that are not like that.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
3K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
Replies
76
Views
6K
Replies
9
Views
5K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
1K
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
4K