Bayes' theorem

Bayes' theorem [beɪz]

n

(Mathematics & Measurements / Statistics) Statistics the fundamental result which expresses the conditional probability P(E/A) of an event E given an event A as P(A/E).P(E)/P(A); more generally, where E_n is one of a set of values E_i which partition the sample space, P(E_n/A) = P(A/E_n)P(E_n)/Σ P(A/E_i)P(E_i). This enables prior estimates of probability to be continually revised in the light of observations

[named after Thomas Bayes (1702-61), English mathematician and Presbyterian minister]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Bayes' theorem - (statistics) a theorem describing how the conditional probability of a set of possible causes for a given observed event can be computed from knowledge of the probability of each cause and the conditional probability of the outcome of each cause theorem - an idea accepted as a demonstrable truth statistics - a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters