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Defining conditional ranking is straightforward, using an analogue of the properties CP1–3 that were used to characterize probabilistic conditioning. A conditional ranking function κ is a function mapping a Popper algebra 2W ′ to ℕ* satisfying the following properties:
Note that + is the analogue for ranking functions to in probability (and min in possibility). I motivate this shortly.
Given an unconditional ranking function κ, the unique conditional ranking function with these properties with domain 2W ′, where ′ = {U: κ (U) ≠ ∞}, is defined via
(Exercise 3.25). This definition of conditioning is consistent with the order-of-magnitude probabilistic interpretation of ranking functions. If μ(U ∩ V) is roughly ∊k and μ(U) is roughly ∊m, then μ(V | U) is roughly ∊k−m. This, indeed, is the motivation for choosing + as the replacement for in CRk4.
Notice that there is an obvious analogue of Bayes' Rule for ranking functions:
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