Chance versus Randomness
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The entry examines the relation between randomness and objective chance, that is, physical probability. In ordinary usage randomness means that outcomes occur in a disorderly way, are unpredictable, or happen by accident, and these three claims differ from one another while each connects to probability in some way. Formal treatments include Martin-Lof randomness and Kolmogorov complexity, which characterize randomness for sequences rather than for single outcomes.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Split the concepts: separate the disorderly, unpredictable, and accidental senses of randomness. - Calibrate attribution: decide whether objective chance or mere ignorance is doing the explanatory work. - Choose models: test whether a sequence is truly random before selecting a probability model.
Anchor fast decisions
There are two formal routes to randomness. The test-based route requires a random sequence to pass every effective statistical test; the complexity route requires the sequence to be incompressible. The two coincide under prefix-free conditions. Their link to chance rests on a common thesis: random processes are chance processes, and random outcomes have non-zero chance.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chance-randomness/verified
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