probabilist
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Someone who studies probability, a particular branch of mathematics.
- n. One who maintains that a man may do that which has a probability of being right, or which is inculcated by teachers of authority, although other opinions may seem to him still more probable.
- n. One who maintains that certainty is impossible, and that probability alone is to govern faith and practice.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Examples
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Lewis, like Reichenbach a probabilist at heart, insisted that the assessment and revision of probabilities in the light of experience requires that some propositions obtained from experience be certain, or as he put it, “if anything is probable, something must be certain.”
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The thorough-going probabilist will translate this into “With probability almost, but not quite one: the sun is shining.”
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A thorough-going probabilist is the most skeptical of all men, exceeding even David Hume.
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The probabilist recommends used Bayesian techniques to the extent possible to sort out the probable consequences of various actions.
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I read the story the way Ann did, and I'm a trained probabilist, which means I am unusually sensitive to the horrible damage that media does to mathematical concepts.
Note
The word 'probabilist' comes ultimately from from a Latin word meaning 'prove'.
