English

Updating Probabilities

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability 2009-11-13 v1 Statistical Mechanics Information Theory math.IT

Abstract

We show that Skilling's method of induction leads to a unique general theory of inductive inference, the method of Maximum relative Entropy (ME). The main tool for updating probabilities is the logarithmic relative entropy; other entropies such as those of Renyi or Tsallis are ruled out. We also show that Bayes updating is a special case of ME updating and thus, that the two are completely compatible.

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0608185,
  title  = {Updating Probabilities},
  author = {Ariel Caticha and Adom Giffin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0608185},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Presented at MaxEnt 2006, the 26th International Workshop on Bayesian Inference and Maximum Entropy Methods (July 8-13, 2006, Paris, France)