In a message dated 11/18/2000 7:34:18 AM,
jpont@... writes:
>This description really applies to independent events (which
>you basically mentioned) (especially the classic coin toss experiment).
>There are many situations (e.g., Markov processes, Bayesian) where the
>outcomes are conditional on prior outcomes, typically in a sequence of
>trials, so then one considers conditional probabilities. The latter are
>still random events, only not independent events.
Of course you are correct here, and independence was almost certainly implied
by the context of the example (which I've long since forgotten). I've had no
luck using this example to explain the difference between these types of
events to anyone without a little math background, since chaos and random
sound so much alike in common parlance, and most people want to ask, "So how
do you explain luck?"
JB