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[Phys-l] What's wrong with P(x|y)? (was Re: Symbol for uncertainty)


On May 11, 2011, at 4:17 AM, John Denker wrote:

[many things that I agree with, and then there is this sentence...]

The conventional notation for probability such as P(x|y) and P(y|x)
is bad enough already. The "random variable" business just makes it
worse.


I totally agree with the random variable business being horrible, but what do you find problematic with conditional probability notation P(x|y)? Is there an alternative that is clearer? Other than students finding conditional probabilities unintuitive, I've never heard a big criticism of it or the notation.


thanks,

bb

--
Brian Blais
bblais@bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais
http://bblais.blogspot.com/