Contextuality and dichotomizations of random variables

DOI10.1007/S10701-021-00527-9zbMATH Open1485.81007OpenAlexW4205274713MaRDI QIDQ2076331FDOQ2076331

Authors: Janne V. Kujala, Ehtibar N. Dzhafarov 

Publication date: 16 February 2022

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The Contextuality-by-Default approach to determining and measuring the (non)contextuality of a system of random variables requires that every random variable in the system be represented by an equivalent set of dichotomous random variables. In this paper we present general principles that justify the use of dichotomizations and determine their choice. The main idea in choosing dichotomizations is that if the set of possible values of a random variable is endowed with a pre-topology (V-space), then the allowable dichotomizations split the space of possible values into two linked subsets ("linkednes" being a weak form of pre-topological connectedness). We primarily focus on two types of random variables most often encountered in practice: categorical and real-valued ones (including continuous random variables, greatly underrepresented in the contextuality literature). A categorical variable (one with a finite number of unordered values) is represented by all of its possible dichotomizations. If the values of a random variable are real numbers, then they are dichotomized by intervals above and below a variable cut point.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.03718

Recommendations

• Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables
• Context-content systems of random variables: the contextuality-by-default theory
• Probabilistic foundations of contextuality
• Measures of contextuality and non-contextuality
• Contextuality-by-default: a brief overview of ideas, concepts, and terminology

zbMATH Keywords

random variablescontextualitydisturbancedichotomizationpre-topology

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Dichotomy, trichotomy of solutions to ordinary differential equations (34D09) Perturbations in context of PDEs (35B20) Contextuality in quantum theory (81P13) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Selfadjoint operator theory in quantum theory, including spectral analysis (81Q10)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables
• Contextuality in three types of quantum-mechanical systems
• Contextuality-by-default 2.0: systems with binary random variables
• Is there contextuality in behavioural and social systems?
• Measures of contextuality and non-contextuality
• On joint distributions, counterfactual values and hidden variables in understanding contextuality
• On the Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics
• Probabilistic foundations of contextuality
• Probability with Martingales
• Proof of a conjecture on contextuality in cyclic systems with binary variables
• Proposed experiment to test local hidden-variable theories
• Replacing nothing with something special: contextuality-by-default and dummy measurements
• Simple test for hidden variables in spin-\(1\) systems
• The sheaf-theoretic structure of non-locality and contextuality
• True contextuality in a psychophysical experiment
• When are probabilistic explanations possible?

Cited In (4)

• Replacing nothing with something special: contextuality-by-default and dummy measurements
• Negative probabilities and contextuality
• On Hysteresis of Value Assignments to Observables during Changes of Context
• Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables

This page was built for publication: Contextuality and dichotomizations of random variables

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2076331)