In statistics, Bayesian inference is a method of inference in which Bayes' rule is used to update the probability estimate for a hypothesis as additional evidence is learned. Bayesian updating is an important technique throughout statistics, and especially in mathematical statistics: Exhibiting a Bayesian derivation for a statistical method automatically ensures that the method works as well as any competing method, for some cases. Bayesian updating is especially important in the dynamic analysis of a sequence of data. Bayesian inference has found application in a range of fields including science, engineering, medicine, and law.
In the philosophy of decision theory, Bayesian inference is closely related to discussions of subjective probability, often called "Bayesian probability." Bayesian probability provides a rational method for updating beliefs; however, non-Bayesian updating rules are compatible with rationality, according to philosophers Ian Hacking and Bas van Fraassen.
Read more about Bayesian Inference: Inference Over Exclusive and Exhaustive Possibilities, In Frequentist Statistics and Decision Theory, Bayes and Bayesian Inference, History
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“I have heard that whoever loves is in no condition old. I have heard that whenever the name of man is spoken, the doctrine of immortality is announced; it cleaves to his constitution. The mode of it baffles our wit, and no whisper comes to us from the other side. But the inference from the working of intellect, hiving knowledge, hiving skill,—at the end of life just ready to be born,—affirms the inspirations of affection and of the moral sentiment.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)