A priori probability

An a priori probability is a probability that is derived purely by deductive reasoning. One way of deriving a priori probabilities is the principle of indifference, which has the character of saying that, if there are N mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive events and if they are equally likely, then the probability of a given event occurring is 1/N. Similarly the probability of one of a given collection of K events is K / N. One disadvantage of defining probabilities in the above way is that it applies only to finite collections of events.

A priori probability

An a priori probability is a probability that is derived purely by deductive reasoning. One way of deriving a priori probabilities is the principle of indifference, which has the character of saying that, if there are N mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive events and if they are equally likely, then the probability of a given event occurring is 1/N. Similarly the probability of one of a given collection of K events is K / N. One disadvantage of defining probabilities in the above way is that it applies only to finite collections of events.