Being able to prove the Total Prob. Theorem and from there the Bayes Theorem has helped me solve problems (granted from a textbook and not real-life ones).
-> In the problem, the sample space comes divided into mutually disjoint portions.
-> Using the definition of probability, we can compute joint distribution from the a-priori distributions.
-> Using the definition of conditional probability, we can flip around the inference direction.
I usually find that all problems (Naive-Bayes spam, cancer) etc. all show this pattern.
13 comments
[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 39.9 ms ] threadIt works especially well with the examples, like Yudkowsy's breast cancer screeening example.
Jaynes argues here (pg 221) that examples were Venn diagrams apply are special cases. According to Jaynes, Bayes theorem is more general than that.
-> In the problem, the sample space comes divided into mutually disjoint portions.
-> Using the definition of probability, we can compute joint distribution from the a-priori distributions.
-> Using the definition of conditional probability, we can flip around the inference direction.
I usually find that all problems (Naive-Bayes spam, cancer) etc. all show this pattern.