Abstract
This chapter introduces and describes, at a high level, the topic of Bayesian inference. The overall motivation and background for a formal method of logical inference using probability is discussed. Key terms used to describe the Bayesian inference approach are also defined.
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Notes
- 1.
Also referred to synonymously as a “stochastic model,” “probabilistic model,” or “likelihood function.”
- 2.
A Bernoulli trial is an experiment whose outcomes can be assigned to one of two possible states (e.g., success/failure, heads/tails, yes/no), and mapped to two values, such as 0 and 1. A Bernoulli process is obtained by repeating the same Bernoulli trial, where each trial is independent of the others. If the outcome given for the value “1” has probability p, it can be shown that the summation of n Bernoulli trials is binomially distributed ~ binomial (p, n).
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited
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Kelly, D., Smith, C. (2011). Introduction and Motivation. In: Bayesian Inference for Probabilistic Risk Assessment. Springer Series in Reliability Engineering. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-187-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-187-5_1
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