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A Limiting Frequency Approach to Probability Based on the Weak Law of Large Numbers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Richard E. Neapolitan
Richard E. Neapolitan*
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, Northeastern Illinois University
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Abstract

Von Mises defined a “physical” probability as a strict limit of the relative frequency of occurrence of an event in repeated trials. As a result of a number of criticisms of von Mises's approach, the more favored approach became the “propensity” interpretation. It is argued here that this interpretation is not compelling and that the only problem in von Mises's approach is the assumption that the relative frequency converges in a strict sense. This problem is then remedied by deducing the axioms of probability theory from the assumption that the relative frequency converges only in the sense of the weak law of large numbers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 389 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Computer Science, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL 60625, USA.

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