Borel's Law

[[File:Emile Borel-1932.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Borel in 1929]]
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'''Borel's law''' was named after mathematician {{wpl|Émile Borel||,}} who would probably be horrified for this misappropiation; it states:

{{cquote|Phenomena with very low probabilities do not occur.}}

The corrupted creationist version is:

{{cquote|Any odds beyond 1 in 10<sup>50</sup> have a zero probability of ever happening.|||Karl Crawford (ksjj)<ref name="t.o">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/abioprob/borelfaq.html Borel's law] — talk.origins</ref>}}

==Original meaning==
It was intended as a [[common sense|rule of thumb]] for specific scenarios before they happen. Borel introduced it in a book written for non-scientists, as an example of the kind of logic that any scientist might use to generate estimates of the minimum probability below which events of a particular type are considered negligible.<ref name="t.o"/> It was created for specific physical examples, not as a universal law. It certainly does ''not'' mean that any probability below 1 in 10<sup>50</sup> is automatically zero, which is contradictory.

So, of course, this rule is often cited by [[creationism|creationists]] as evidence against [[evolution]] and [[abiogenesis]] when they are misunderstanding that [[improbable things happen]]. They appear to be the only people to give it the status of a "law." This is a staggering misrepresentation of what Borel said and one can only feel sympathy for him for having such a misguided "law" named after him.

==Borel's actual law==
Borel also has a real law named after him, usually known as {{wpl|Borel's law of large numbers||.}} It can be expressed in many ways, but in its simplest form, if an event <math>E</math> occurs <math>X_n</math> times in <math>n</math> trials, then the probability <math>p</math> of <math>E</math> occurring is:
:<math>p=\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{X_n(E)}{n}</math>

==Another Borel theorem==
A very powerful theorem Borel '''did''' prove is given to show his eminence:<ref group=note>Mathematicians have been heard mentioning this with awe.</ref> {{wpl|Taylor Series}} can be problematic, but Borel proved that ''every'' {{wpl|Power Series}} is the Taylor Series of some function. Very powerful indeed.

Just browsing [[Wikipedia]] turns up a number of Borel's theorems and that can at least be used as an indicator of how important a mathematician he was.{{efn|Anyone who has some of the most important things in {{wpl|Measure_(mathematics)|Measure Theory}} named after him is a grandmaster of abstract thinking, as generations of puzzled students will tell you.}}

==In remembrance of Usenet==
{{main|Usenet}}
Borel's "law" was often invoked in discussions in [[talk.origins]], alt.atheism and other groups which seemed to attract more [[preacher]]s than [[atheists]] or [[biologist]]s. One answer to a [[Young Earth Creationist]] claiming evolution to be impossible — said creationist did not distinguish between [[A priori and a posteriori|''a priori'' and ''a posterori'']], which can hardly be a problem for the gentle readers of RationalWiki — is worth paraphrasing: ''In order for you to exist, your parents had to have [[sex]] exactly at a given time. One particular sperm cell had to fertilize one particular egg. Taking this back only a few generations we quickly reach the limit of Borel's "law". You, Sir, are therefore impossible.''

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|1}}

[[Category:Creationist claims]]
[[Category:Eponymous laws]]
[[Category:Mathematics]]

Categories: Creationist claims, Eponymous laws, Mathematics