14 Apr
2016
14 Apr
'16
4:03 a.m.
On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 12:03 AM, Greg Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
Steven D'Aprano wrote:
A formal and precise treatment would have to involve calculus and limits as the probability approaches zero, rather than a flat out "the probability is zero, therefore it's impossible".
The limit of p = 1/n as n goes to infinity is zero. Events with zero probability can't happen. I don't know how it can be made more rigorous than that.
This only holds true if the sample space is finite. The mathematical term for an event with zero probability that nonetheless can happen is "almost never". See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_surely As usual, infinity is weird.