Conditional Probability


Conditioning – the soul of statistics


Independence means multiplication


Newton–Pepys problem: another gambling problem 🎲

Which of the following three propositions has the greatest chance of success?

  • A. Six fair dice are tossed independently and at least one “6” appears.
  • B. Twelve fair dice are tossed independently and at least two “6”s appear.
  • C. Eighteen fair dice are tossed independently and at least three “6”s appear.

Newton–Pepys problem

Newton–Pepys problem

Newton–Pepys problem

Conditional probability 🏄‍♂️

  • How do you update probabilities/beliefs/uncertainty based on new evidence?
  • Do you update in a coherent, consistent, and logical manner?
  • $P_{(A | B)} = \frac{P_{(A \bigcap B)}}{P_{(B)}}$ if $P_{(B)} > 0$
  • $P_{(A \bigcap B)} = P_{(B)} P_{(A|B)} = P_{(A)} P_{(B|A)}$
  • $P_{(A | B)} = \frac{P_{(B | A)}P_{(A)}}{P_{(B)}}$ ❤️


Ref