62

116

I insert the word “pertinent” to indicate, for
example, that an insurance company does
not want to know what death-rate they may
learn of from the returns of the board of health
but what the death-rate is going to be among
the people they insure. I do not care what proportion
of possible questions can truly be answered by
“yes”; but if I could know what proportion
of my theories of logic were going to withstand
criticism that information would be very welcome.

Eminent mathematicians have proposed
to apply the calculus of probabilities to
determining judicial decisions, and to
express the “veracity” of a witness by a
number equal to the proportion of questions that