EXAMPLE 8 Inappropriate use of the classical method

Watch a lot of YouTube? Hate the in-stream ads? According to Social Strand Media, 75% of in-stream ads are skippable (www.slideshare.net/SocialStrand/social-media-stats-2014). Suppose we choose one in-stream ad at random. Define the following events:

Determine whether the classical method can be used to assign probability to events and .

Solution

Because more than half of in-stream ads are skippable, if we choose one at random, we are more likely to find a skippable one than a non-skippable one. Therefore, the events and are not equally likely. It would be inappropriate to use the classical method of assigning probabilities for this experiment because the classical method can be used only when all the outcomes of an experiment are equally likely.