Specifically, the researchers asked for estimated times by which the students thought it was 50%, 75%, and 99% probable their personal projects would be done.
99%? How am I supposed to answer if I assign less than 99% probability to me actually completing the task? That isn’t even particularly pessimistic given reasonable priorities.
ETA after surprising vote: Really an actual answer would be appreciated. How am I supposed to understand that question? Or is it somehow shame-worthy to ask even when I am so entirely distanced from those individuals expected to give such an estimate to an actual superior?
If you ascribe less than 99% probability to the proposition that you will ever finish a given task, then there is no time t such that Pr(task completed by t) = 0.99.
99%? How am I supposed to answer if I assign less than 99% probability to me actually completing the task?
Not with a finite number, obviously. “I’m not 0.99 sure I’ll ever get this done”, “your question makes an incorrect assumption”, “Mu” all seem like reasonable replies. “∞” will make some people cringe, but should also get the point across.
99%? How am I supposed to answer if I assign less than 99% probability to me actually completing the task? That isn’t even particularly pessimistic given reasonable priorities.
ETA after surprising vote: Really an actual answer would be appreciated. How am I supposed to understand that question? Or is it somehow shame-worthy to ask even when I am so entirely distanced from those individuals expected to give such an estimate to an actual superior?
They weren’t asked if they’d complete the task, they were asked when.
If you ascribe less than 99% probability to the proposition that you will ever finish a given task, then there is no time t such that Pr(task completed by t) = 0.99.
Not with a finite number, obviously. “I’m not 0.99 sure I’ll ever get this done”, “your question makes an incorrect assumption”, “Mu” all seem like reasonable replies. “∞” will make some people cringe, but should also get the point across.
Thankyou. I wasn’t familiar with the ‘Mu’ word. English or not I shall put it to good use.
Agree on both counts. Especially the cringing part.