I really appreciate Andrew Gelman's way of defining 'probability' that transcends the frequentist/Bayesian schism: Probability is a mathematical concept encoded in the Kolmogorov axioms. That's it. No need to argue over a canonical interpretation. It's just math!
-
-
Math classes are taught backwards in that once a subject becomes mature enough, it redefines itself around the core definitions and cuts its mooring to its past. This is nice for actually *doing* math, but less so for understanding it.
-
Off the top of my head, these subjects have done this: - group theory - algebra - category theory - topology (biggest offender) - probability - dynamical systems - algebraic topology Logic and set theory are mostly free of this just because they're meant to question foundations
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
As for alternative definitions of probability, Cox came up with a longer set of axioms that Jaynes lays out in his book. They're equivalent to Kolmogorov but motivate conditional probability and the connection to logic far better. They're a pain to remember, but easy to believe.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.