Obviously, we could just choose all the states and get 100% probability. That would maximize the probability, but not minimize the number of states we'd have to choose.
The other extreme would be to just choose zero states, but we won't get any cumulative probability here.
So, my question is, are there any mathematically elegant, or statistically-established ideas which give us a 'middle' way?
Intuitively, I'm looking for a modification of the 80:20 rule, so that I can say x number of states give a cumulative probability of y%.
I apologize if I'm not using the right language. I have not studied probability distribution formally.