E. T. Jaynes' book "Probability Theory" is a tour de force and freely available[1]. The preface and first chapter answers your first question; it exceeds anythi

E. T. Jaynes' book "Probability Theory" is a tour de force and freely available[1]. The preface and first chapter answers your first question; it exceeds anything you'll probably read here, certainly from me. [1] http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/prob/book.pdf http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/prob/book.pdf