Bayes' theorem
/ˈbeɪz θɪərəm
/noun Statistics
A theorem describing how the conditional probability of each of a set of possible causes for a given observed outcome can be computed from knowledge of the probability of each cause and the conditional probability of the outcome of each cause.Following Bayes' theorem, the posterior distribution over the parameter space is proportional to the likelihood times the prior distribution....
- A follower of Clifford might object if there was no philosophical discussion of rival explanations or of the application here of Bayes' theorem in the theory of probability.
- Once these parameters have been estimated, Bayes' theorem is used to estimate the posterior probability that a given site came from the class of positively selected sites.
Origin
Mid 19th century: named after Thomas Bayes (1702–61), English mathematician.