Unit Fraction - Unit Fractions in Probability and Statistics

Unit Fractions in Probability and Statistics

In a uniform distribution on a discrete space, all probabilities are equal unit fractions. Due to the principle of indifference, probabilities of this form arise frequently in statistical calculations. Additionally, Zipf's law states that, for many observed phenomena involving the selection of items from an ordered sequence, the probability that the nth item is selected is proportional to the unit fraction 1/n.

Read more about this topic:  Unit Fraction

Famous quotes containing the words unit, probability and/or statistics:

    During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    The source of Pyrrhonism comes from failing to distinguish between a demonstration, a proof and a probability. A demonstration supposes that the contradictory idea is impossible; a proof of fact is where all the reasons lead to belief, without there being any pretext for doubt; a probability is where the reasons for belief are stronger than those for doubting.
    Andrew Michael Ramsay (1686–1743)

    July 4. Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)