Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2017 June 17

= June 17 =

Majority as logical quantifier
What kind of logical quantifier is that represented/expressed by the noun majority?--82.137.12.33 (talk) 11:08, 17 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Normally it means more than half, so more than 50%. A recent example is the recent UK election. Before the election the Conservative party had a majority (of seats). But after the election they no longer have a majority, though they are still the largest party, so in a sense they won the election.-- JohnBlackburne wordsdeeds 12:13, 17 June 2017 (UTC)


 * So, in math notation, that would be "> 0.5". To give an example, let's say the story problem is "Prove that the 5,6,7,8 rolls of a pair of dice represent the majority of dice rolls".  So, if we used R2(5) to represent the probability of rolling a 5 with two dice, that statement becomes "Prove that R2(5) + R2(6) + R2(7) + R2(8) > 0.5".  StuRat (talk) 17:27, 17 June 2017 (UTC)