From C.D.Wright@SOLIPSYS.COMPULINK.CO.UK Mon Jul 10 15:09:26 2000 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 24636 invoked from network); 10 Jul 2000 22:09:25 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by m1.onelist.org with QMQP; 10 Jul 2000 22:09:25 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO nickel.cix.co.uk) (194.153.0.18) by mta1 with SMTP; 10 Jul 2000 22:09:24 -0000 Received: from s25.pool.pm3-tele-6.cix.co.uk (s25.pool.pm3-tele-6.cix.co.uk [194.153.24.145]) by nickel.cix.co.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.1) with SMTP id XAA09239 for ; Mon, 10 Jul 2000 23:09:19 +0100 (BST) X-Envelope-From: C.D.Wright@solipsys.compulink.co.uk Message-Id: <200007102209.XAA09239@nickel.cix.co.uk> Comments: Authenticated sender is To: lojban@egroups.com Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:14:57 +0000 Subject: Re: [lojban] 2 maths questions Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.31) From: C.D.Wright@SOLIPSYS.COMPULINK.CO.UK Jorge Llambias wrote: > It is of course possible to define some new mathematical > function that assigns to the integers twice the value that > it assigns the even numbers (the function proposed taking > limits is probably the best), Ivan replied: > Here is another: What is the probability that any > randomly chosen integer number is even? Answer: 1/2. Randomly chosen how? until you define the distribution your definition is not well defined, and I can think of distributions where the answer is not 1/2. Even many "obvious" or "natural" distributions don't work. You can't sweep infinity under the carpet. cdw -- \\// ze'uku ko jmive gi'e snada