If we have some extra knowledge concerning the event, then
the prior probability does not predict adequately the outcome.
For example, if we know that somebody would be holding a safety net somewhere
between the balcony of the 10th floor and the pavement, then we
know that the probability of survival would be much, much, higher than 1%!
Also, if we know that some forest is in prime tourist development area, we
know that its risk to fire is much much higher than the prior probability
we computed before.
We use the conditional probabilities to express this. We write p(A|B)
to mean probability of A happening, given that B happened. |