3 Sampling the Imaginary
Lots of books on Bayesian statistics introduce posterior inference by using a medical testing scenario. To repeat the structure of common examples, suppose there is a blood test that correctly detects vampirism 95% of the time. In more precise and mathematical notation, Pr(positive test result|vampire) = 0.95. It’s a very accurate test, nearly always catching real vampires. It also make mistakes, though, in the form of false positives. One percent of the time, it incorrectly diagnoses normal people as vampires, Pr(positive test result| mortal) = 0.01. The final bit of information we are told is that vampires are rather rare, being only 0.1% of the population, implying Pr(vampire) = 0.001. Suppose now that someone ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access