(1) A ball is drawn from a bag containing nine black balls and one white: what is the chance of its being the white ball?
(2) A ball is drawn from a bag containing ten balls, and is found to be white; what is the chance of there having been but that one white ball in the bag?
The class of which the first example is a simple instance has been already abundantly discussed. The interpretation of it is as follows: If balls be continually drawn and replaced, the proportion of white ones to the whole number drawn will tend towards the fraction 1/10. The contemplated action is a single one, but we view it as one of the above series; at least our opinion is formed upon that assumption. We conclude that we are going to take one of a series of events which may appear individually fortuitous, but in which, in the long run, those of a given kind are one-tenth of the whole; this kind (white) is then singled out by anticipation. By stating that its chance is 1/10, we merely mean to assert this physical fact, together with such other mental
facts, emotions, inferences, &c., as may be properly associated with it.
§ 11. Have we to interpret the second example in a different way? Here also we have a single instance, but the nature of the question would seem to decide that the only series to which it can properly be referred is the following:—Balls are continually drawn from different bags each containing ten, and are always found to be white; what is ultimately the proportion of cases in which they will be found to have been taken from bags with only one white ball in them? Now it may be readily shown[5] that time has nothing to do with the question; omitting therefore the consideration of this element, we have for the two series from which our opinions in these two examples respectively are to be formed:—(1) balls of different colours presented to us in a given ultimate ratio; (2) bags with different contents similarly presented. From these data respectively we have to assign their due weight to our anticipations of (1) a white ball; (2) a bag containing but one white ball. So stated the problems would appear to be formally identical.
When, however, we begin the practical work of solving them we perceive a most important distinction. In the first example there is not much that is arbitrary; balls would under such circumstance really come out more or less accurately in the proportion expected. Moreover, in case it should be objected that it is difficult to prove that they will do so, it does not seem an unfair demand to say that the balls are to be ‘well-mixed’ or ‘fairly distributed,’ or to introduce any of the other conditions by which, under the semblance of judging à priori, we take care to secure our prospect of a
series of the desired kind. But we cannot say the same in the case of the second example.
§ 12. The line of proof by which it is generally attempted to solve the second example is of this kind;—It is shown that there being one white ball for certain in the bag, the only possible antecedents are of ten kinds, viz.[ TN: space] bags, each of which contains ten balls, but in which the white balls range respectively from one to ten in number. This of course imposes limits upon the kind of terms to be found in our series. But we want more than such limitations, we must know the proportions in which these terms are ultimately found to arrange themselves in the series. Now this requires an experience about bags which may not, and indeed in a large proportion of similar cases, cannot, be given to us. If therefore we are to solve the question at all we must make an assumption; let us make the following;—that each of the bags described above occurs equally often,—and see what follows. The bags being drawn from equally often, it does not follow that they will each yield equal numbers of