良种检测:假设 100% 的不良种子都表现 A 性状,而种子表现 A 性状,并不代表此种子 100% 是不良种子,还需要考虑先验概率. 假设一共有 6 万颗不良种子,在种子中的比例是十万分之一(假设总共有60亿颗种子),所有种子中有 1/3 表现 A 性状(即 20 亿颗种子表现 A 性状),则此种子为不良种子的概率只有十万分之三.
类似的问题:地沟油检验、外星信号检测、...
5.3 Bayes 方法
Sometime during the 1740s, the Reverend Thomas Bayes made the ingenious discovery that bears his name but then mysteriously abandoned it. [2]
It was rediscovered independently by a different and far more renowned man, Pierre Simon Laplace, who gave it its modern mathematical form and scientific application — and then moved on to other methods.
因 vs. 果
Thomas Bayes, 1700s: how to infer causes(原因) from effects(结果)?
A thought experiment:
There is a ball on table, and we don't know whether it's on left or right side.
Drop another ball on the table, and we are told that it's on the left side of the first ball.
We can infer that the first ball probably on the right side of the table.
If the 3rd ball is located on the left side of the first ball, then we are more likely to believe the 1st ball is on the right side.
No matter how correct a mathematical theorem may appear to be, one ought never to be satisfied that there was not something imperfect about it until it also gives the impression of being beautiful.
-- George Boole
Searching USS Scorpion
In May 1968, the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) failed to arrive as expected at her home port of Norfolk, Virginia. The command officers of the U.S. Navy were nearly convinced that the vessel had been lost off the Eastern Seaboard, but an extensive search there failed to discover the remains of Scorpion.
A Navy deep-water expert, John P. Craven, brought together a group of people from different backgrounds, including mathematicians, submarine experts, experienced submarine commanders, and searchers. Craven made them to guess the most likely scenario, rather than let them to discuss with each other to get an answer.
Bayesian Search
In order to use all the information gathered, a Bayesian search methodology was adopted. The final estimation is a collective judgment made by the team as a whole, not a personal judgment representing the smartest person in the team.
Five months after the Scorpion submarine disappeared, it was discovered by a naval vessel. The location found the submarine is only 220 yards away from the location predicted by the Craven’s team.