Basic Urn Model
In this basic urn model in probability theory, the urn contains x white and y black balls, well-mixed together. One ball is drawn randomly from the urn and its color observed; it is then placed back in the urn (or not), and the selection process is repeated.
Possible questions that can be answered in this model are:
- Can I infer the proportion of white and black balls from n observations? With what degree of confidence?
- Knowing x and y, what is the probability of drawing a specific sequence (e.g. one white followed by one black)?
- If I only observe n white balls, how sure can I be that there are no black balls? (A variation on the first question)
Read more about this topic: Urn Problem
Famous quotes containing the words basic and/or model:
“It is easier to move rivers and mountains than to change a persons basic nature.”
—Chinese proverb.
“If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this: in portrait painting to put on canvas something more than the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features.”
—James Mcneill Whistler (18341903)