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by thegabriele 1353 days ago
From an algorithmic information theory, i wouldn't choose any easily reproducible sequence.

If you were presented with two array of integers:

- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

- 95, 10, 39, 45, 6, 47

...which one would you say it's random?

Still, from a frequentist point of view both are.

Where's my mistake?

2 comments

Algorithmically random sequence

"Martin-Löf's key insight was to use the theory of computation to formally define the notion of a test for randomness."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmically_random_sequenc...

(now famous for type theory, Per Martin-Löf did Probability Theory) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_Martin-L%C3%B6f#Randomness...

You are correct. PP's mathematician was making a bold psychological/sociological claim. Maybe he has seen some research to that effect, but I doubt it.
Yes, of course he knew that all occurrences are equally probable, but he took into consideration what other people bet. Anyway as I remember when asked about that strategy few years later he said he changed the sequence (to 2,3,4,5,6,7 or something similar) to avoid potential prize sharing with people who followed his advice.