The principle of indifference (also called principle of insufficient reason) is a rule for assigning epistemic probabilities. Suppose that there are n > 1 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive possibilities. The principle of indifference states that if the n possibilities are indistinguishable except for their names, then each possibility should be assigned a probability equal to 1/n.
In Bayesian probability, this is the simplest non-informative prior. The principle of indifference is meaningless under the frequency interpretation of probability, in which probabilities are relative frequencies rather than degrees of belief in uncertain propositions, conditional upon a state of information.
Read more about Principle Of Indifference: Examples, Application To Continuous Variables, History of The Principle of Indifference
Famous quotes containing the words principle of, principle and/or indifference:
“The principle of subordination is the great bond of union and harmony through the universe.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)
“The sons of Judah have to choose that God may again choose them.... The divine principle of our race is action, choice, resolved memory.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The freedom of indifference, the indifference of freedom, the will dust in the dust of its object, the act a handful of sand let fall—these were some of the shapes he had sighted, sunset landfall after many days.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)