sci.math
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Calculus XOR Probability

Subject: Re: Calculus XOR Probability
From: "Robert Low"
Date: 6 Apr 2006 06:32:43 -0700
Newsgroups: sci.math
Han de Bruijn wrote:

> You can repeat this a thousand times, but Tony and I don't get it. In my


No kidding....

> not so humble opinion, you must also reject then the  integral(0,1) dx ,
> because it is derived from the Riemann sum n.1/n , which is exactly the
> same as summing up (n) probabilities with 1/n chance for each. dx = 1/n.
> Now take the limit for n->oo and you're done. What's the problem?

There is no problem. Nobody disputes that

lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} (n. 1/n)   = 1

But nobody except you (and Tony?) thinks that you can meaningfully
claim
that

lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} (n.1/n) =
  (lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} n).(lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} 1/n)

The result lim(a_n b_n) = (lim a_n)(lim b_n) is only guaranteed to
be true if a_n and b_n both converge. Since this condition is not
satisfied in the above example, there is no foundation for your
argument.


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Privacy Policy