On the symmetry of evidential support

Abstract

For events $A$ and $B$, we have \[ \mathbb{P}(A\mid B) > \mathbb{P}(A\mid \neg B) \qquad\Longleftrightarrow\qquad \mathbb{P}(B\mid A) > \mathbb{P}(B\mid \neg A) \] whenever all four quantities are defined. In other words, $B$ is evidence for $A$ if and only if $A$ is evidence for $B$. This note gives seven different proofs of this fact -- by cross-multiplication, covariance, coupling parameters, odds ratios, pointwise mutual information, combinatorial double counting, and mixed discrete derivatives -- and develops a surrounding web of interpretations. Once the marginals $\mathbb{P}(A)$ and $\mathbb{P}(B)$ are fixed, a $2\times 2$ table has only one degree of freedom, so every scalar notion of positive association must be governed by the same signed parameter.

20 pages