Seminars
The series hosts a seminar every other week on current research topics. The seminar often features an invited guest speaker and occasionally local faculty members, students or others affiliated with the department. The usual time of the seminar is 11-12 pm on Fridays. Professors Joseph Gastwirth (E-mail: jlgast@gwu.edu) and Qing Pan (E-mail: qpan@gwu.edu) are the Seminar Series Coordinators.
Department Seminars in Spring 2012
Student Seminars in Fall 2011
Upcoming Seminar
Title: Subjective Probability: Its Axioms and Acrobatics.
Speaker:Nozer Singpurwalla, Professor of Statistics and Decision Science, GWU
Abstract: The meaning of probability has been enigmatic, even to the likes of Kolmogorov, and continues to be so. It is fallacious to claim that the law of large numbers provides a definitive interpretation.
Whereas the founding fathers, Kardano, Pascal, Fermat, Bernoulli, de Moivre, Bayes, and Laplace, took probability for granted, the latter day writers, Venn, von Mises, Ramsey, Keynes, deFinetti, and Borel engaged in philosophical and rhetorical discussions about the meaning of probability. Entering into the arena were also physicists like Cox, Jeffreys, and Jaynes and philosophers like Carnap, Jeffrey, and Popper. Interpretation matters because the paradigm used to process information and act upon it, is determined by perspective.
The modern view is that the only philosophically and logically defensible interpretation of probability is that probability is not unique, that it is personal, and therefore subjective. But to make subjective probability mathematically viable, one needs axioms of consistent behavior. The Kolmogorov axioms are a consequence of the behavioristic axioms. In this expository talk, I will review these more fundamental axioms and point out some of the underlying acrobatics that have led to debates and discussions.
Besides mathematicians, statisticians, and decision theorists, the material here should be of interest to physical, biological, and social scientists, risk analysts, and those engaged in the art of “intelligence” (Googling, code breaking, hacking, and eavesdropping).
Time: Friday, April 27th 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Place: Duques 651 (2201 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052)
George Washington University Writing Center
The GW Writing Center conducts free, one-on-one sessions with undergraduate and graduate students to assist students with course writing assignments, research papers, theses, and personal statements.