I hate frikkin overachieving students.

[polksalet]

In one of my classes we are using webct. Our instructions are to answer the question as concisely as possible, preferably less than one paragraph. This old bastage is retired from IBM, teaches Cal III and DE at school, and collects MS degrees. He got his first MS in 1960 in stats. This is the question and his answer. I have no idea what I can possibly add to the discussion.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3 discusses two spatial processes (deterministic process and stochastic process).

What are these two processes? Please: 1) explain these two processes in your own

words, 2) give an example for each process, and 3) have you used them in your work? If

yes, which process is more often used.

 

 

TITLE: The DETERMINISTIC PROCESS vs. The STOCHASTIC PROCESS

 

1) Explanation: A stochastic process (random) is the counterpart to a

deterministic process. Instead of dealing with only one possible "reality" of how the process might

evolve with time, in a stochasticprocess, there is some indeterminacy in its future evolution described by

probability distributions. This means that even if the initial condition (starting point) is known,

there are many possibilities into which the process might evolve, where some paths are more

probable than other paths. In the simplest possible case (discrete time), a stochastic process amounts to a

sequence of random variable known as a “time series”. Random variables corresponding to various

times (points) may be totally different. The main requirement is that these different random quantities

are all of the “same-type”. Although the random values of a stochastic process may be independent

random variables at different times, in most common considered situations, they exhibit

complicated statistical correlations. EVERY FUNCTION HAS A DOMAIN.

 

Mathematically, the definition of “same-type”: meaning, belonging to the

same “codomain”.

a) What can go INTO a function is called the

DOMAIN.

What may, possibly, COME OUT of a

function, is called the codomain.

c) What ACTUALLY comes out of a function is

called the RANGE.

 

In “y = sin (x)”, the function is the “sine” function.

What goes into the sine-function is “x”, the domain. (“x” is the

independent variable)

What comes out of the sine-function is “y”, the codomain. (“y” is the

dependent variable)

The range is (-1 to +1), the range of all values for the sine-function.

 

Determinism is the view that every event, including human cognition,

behavior, decision, and action,

is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. With

numerous historical debates,

many varieties and philosophical positions on the subject of determinism

exist from traditions

throughout the world. Determinism necessarily entails that humanity or

individual humans may not

change the course of the future and its events (a position known

as “fatalism”); however, some

determinists believe that the level to which human beings have influence

over their future is, itself,

merely dependent on the present and past. Causal determinism is

associated with, and relies upon,

the ideas of materialism and causality. The probabilistic or selectionistic

determinism of B.F. Skinner

comprised a wholly separate conception of determinism that was not

mechanistic at all. A mechan-

istic determinism would assume that every event has an unbroken chain

of prior occurrences but a

selectionistic or probabilistic model does not.

 

The exact meaning of the term, determinism, has historically been

subject to rigorous scrutiny and

several interpretations. Some people view determinism and free will as

mutually exclusive. The

Determinism Problem gives the following summary of the theory of

determinism: in its central part,

determinism is the theory that our choices (and decisions and what gives

rise to them) are effects.

What the theory depends upon is what effects are taken to be. It is

effects that seem fundamental to

the subject of determinism; i.e., how it affects our lives. “Varieties of

determinism” is the thesis that

future events are necessitated by past and present events combined

with the laws of nature. Imagine

an entity that knows all facts about the past and the present and knows

the natural laws governing

the universe. Such an entity might be able to use this knowledge to

foresee the future, down to the

smallest detail.

1 / 2

2) Examples: Familiar examples of processes modeled as stochastic time

series include stock market

and exchange rate fluctuations, signals such as speech, audio and video,

medical data such as a

patient's EKG, EEG, blood pressure or temperature, and random movement

such as Brownian-

motion or random walks. Examples of random fields include static images,

random terrain

(landscapes) or composition variations of a heterogeneous material.

 

"Scientific determinism" is predicated on the supposition that all events

have a cause and effect;

in other words, that the combination of events, at a particular time,

cause a particular outcome. This

causal determinism has a direct relationship with predictability. Perfect

predictability implies strict

determinism, but lack of predictability does not necessarily imply lack of

determinism. Limitations

on predictability could alternatively be caused by factors such as a lack

of information or excessive

complexity.

 

An example of this could be found by looking at a bomb dropping from the

air. Through mathematics,

we can predict the time the bomb will take to reach the ground and we

also know what will happen

once the bomb explodes. Any small errors in prediction might arise from

our not measuring some

factors, such as puffs of wind or variations in air temperature along the

bomb's path.

 

Logical determinism is the notion that all propositions, whether about the

past, present or future,

are either true or false. The problem of free will, in this context, is the

problem of how choices can

be free, given that what one does in the future is already determined as

true or false in the present.

 

3) Have you used these processes in your work?

 

YES. My first Master’s Thesis in Mathematics was based on the Random Walk

technique as applied to

an insulated, circular-conduit, taking measurements going “into” and

coming “out-of” the conduit,

at each end, after many random numbers had been generated as they

impinged on the inside of the

conduit.

 

Which process is more often used? The process of determinism is more

often used than the stochastic process.

[gbpfan1231]

What is your point?

 

Thast is exactly what I would have put as my answer.

[ts]

I'd give the dude a D just for referencing BF Skinner in his answer.

[wiegie]

Chapter 3 discusses two spatial processes (deterministic process and stochastic process).

What are these two processes? Please: 1) explain these two processes in your own

words, 2) give an example for each process, and 3) have you used them in your work? If

yes, which process is more often used.

1) a deterministic process occurs when x happens and y necessarily happens as a result; a stochastic process occurs if when x happens it cannot be predicted what will happen as a result.

 

2) a) stochastic process: some biatch randomly tried to jump me

a deterministic process: I subsequently beat his ass

 

3) a) see above;

no more random biatches have tried to jump me because they know that if they do, I will give them a beat-down. Hence, I use deterministic processes more often

[Big John]

1) a deterministic process occurs when x happens and y necessarily happens as a result; a stochastic process occurs if when x happens it cannot be predicted what will happen as a result.

 

2) a) stochastic process: some biatch randomly tried to jump me

a deterministic process: I subsequently beat his ass

 

3) a) see above;

no more random biatches have tried to jump me because they know that if they do, I will give them a beat-down. Hence, I use deterministic processes more often

Also known as "Going polksalet" on them.

[polksalet]

1) a deterministic process occurs when x happens and y necessarily happens as a result; a stochastic process occurs if when x happens it cannot be predicted what will happen as a result.

 

2) a) stochastic process: some biatch randomly tried to jump me

a deterministic process: I subsequently beat his ass

 

3) a) see above;

no more random biatches have tried to jump me because they know that if they do, I will give them a beat-down. Hence, I use deterministic processes more often

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

If this were any other teacher I might put that in. This lady however is a recent import from China and I have NO idea how she would take it.

[wiegie]

This lady however is a recent import from China and I have NO idea how she would take it.

not well (trust me on this one)

[cre8tiff]

I'd give the dude a D just for referencing BF Skinner in his answer.

 

No F'n joke.

 

Tell him it is a conditioned response from years of grading tests handed in by overachieving know it all nerds.