From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome to the Wikipedia Mathematics Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.
Looking at the equation for Bayes' Theorem .
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
=
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
+
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
Pr
(
A
′
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A|B)={\frac {\Pr(B|A)\,\Pr(A)}{\Pr(B|A)\Pr(A)+\Pr(B|A^{'})\Pr(A^{'})}}\!}
Assume that
Pr
(
A
′
)
=
1
−
Pr
(
A
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A^{'})=1-\Pr(A)}
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
=
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
+
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
Pr
(
A
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A|B)={\frac {\Pr(B|A)\,\Pr(A)}{\Pr(B|A)\Pr(A)+\Pr(B|A^{'})-\Pr(B|A^{'})\Pr(A)}}\!}
↓
{\displaystyle \downarrow }
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
=
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
(
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
)
Pr
(
A
)
+
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A|B)={\frac {\Pr(B|A)\,\Pr(A)}{(\Pr(B|A)-\Pr(B|A^{'}))\Pr(A)+\Pr(B|A^{'})}}\!}
↓
{\displaystyle \downarrow }
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
=
1
(
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
)
Pr
(
A
)
+
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
{\displaystyle {\frac {\Pr(A|B)}{\Pr(B|A)\,\Pr(A)}}={\frac {1}{(\Pr(B|A)-\Pr(B|A^{'}))\Pr(A)+\Pr(B|A^{'})}}\!}
↓
{\displaystyle \downarrow }
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
)
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
=
(
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
)
Pr
(
A
)
+
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
{\displaystyle {\frac {\Pr(B|A)\,\Pr(A)}{\Pr(A|B)}}=(\Pr(B|A)-\Pr(B|A^{'}))\Pr(A)+\Pr(B|A^{'})\!}
↓
{\displaystyle \downarrow }
Pr
(
A
)
[
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
−
(
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
)
]
=
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A)\left[{\frac {\Pr(B|A)}{\Pr(A|B)}}-(\Pr(B|A)-\Pr(B|A^{'}))\right]=\Pr(B|A^{'})\!}
↓
{\displaystyle \downarrow }
Pr
(
A
)
=
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
−
(
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A)={\frac {\Pr(B|A^{'})}{{\frac {\Pr(B|A)}{\Pr(A|B)}}-(\Pr(B|A)-\Pr(B|A^{'}))}}\!}
Now assume that a positive integer number X (between 1 and 1 million) is picked at random.
let
A
{\displaystyle A\,}
be "X is divisible by 2"
and
let
B
{\displaystyle B\,}
be "X is divisible by 4"
We have
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
=
0
{\displaystyle \Pr(B|A^{'})=0}
Thus
Pr
(
A
)
=
0
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
Pr
(
A
|
B
)
−
(
Pr
(
B
|
A
)
−
Pr
(
B
|
A
′
)
)
{\displaystyle \Pr(A)={\frac {0}{{\frac {\Pr(B|A)}{\Pr(A|B)}}-(\Pr(B|A)-\Pr(B|A^{'}))}}\!}
↓
{\displaystyle \downarrow }
Pr
(
A
)
=
0
{\displaystyle \Pr(A)=0\!}
Therefore if we pick a positive integer between 1 and 1 million at random, the number we pick will not be an even number.
This is of course WRONG! But I can't see where the mistake is.
You can have fun with this:
let
A
{\displaystyle A\,}
be "George Bush is an American"
and
let
B
{\displaystyle B\,}
be "George Bush is the president of the United States"
202.168.50.40 22:59, 28 November 2006 (UTC) [ reply ]
Hint. At some point, rather late in your derivation, you take a step of the form ab = c → a = c /b . Then you conclude that c = 0 implies a = 0. But if you substitute c := 0 in the equation ab = c , it becomes ab = 0. You cannot conclude from there to a = 0. --Lambiam Talk 23:32, 28 November 2006 (UTC) [ reply ]