Reader small image

You're reading from  Mastering SciPy

Product typeBook
Published inNov 2015
Reading LevelIntermediate
Publisher
ISBN-139781783984749
Edition1st Edition
Languages
Right arrow
Authors (2):
Francisco Javier Blanco-Silva
Francisco Javier Blanco-Silva
author image
Francisco Javier Blanco-Silva

I will always be indebted to Bradley J. Lucier and Rodrigo Bañuelos, for being a constant inspiration, for their guidance and teachings. Special thanks to my editors, Sriram Neelakantam, Bharat Patil, Nikhil Potdukhe, and Mohammad Rizvi. Many colleagues have contributed with encouragement and fruitful discussions. In particular, I would like to mention Parsa Bakhtary, Aaron Dutle, Edsel Peña, Pablo Sprechmann, Adam Taylor, and Holly Watson. But the most special thanks go without a doubt to my wife and daughter. Grace's love and smiles alone provided all the motivation, enthusiasm and skills to overcome any difficulties encountered during the pursuit of this book, and everything life threw at me ever since she was born.
Read more about Francisco Javier Blanco-Silva

View More author details
Right arrow

Statistical inference


Statistical inference is the process of deducing properties of an underlying distribution by analysis of data. Inferential statistical analysis infers properties about a population; this includes testing hypotheses and deriving estimates.

There are three types of inference:

  • Estimation of the most appropriate single value of a parameter.

  • Interval estimation to assess what region of parameter values is most consistent with the given data.

  • Hypothesis testing to decide, between two options, what parameter values are most consistent with the data.

There are mainly three approaches to attack these problems:

  • Frequentist: Inference is judged based upon performance in repeated sampling.

  • Bayesian: Inference must be subjective. A prior distribution is chosen for the parameter we seek, and we combine the density of the data prior to obtain a joint distribution. A further application of Bayes Theorem gives us a distribution of the parameter, given the data. To perform computations...

lock icon
The rest of the page is locked
Previous PageNext Page
You have been reading a chapter from
Mastering SciPy
Published in: Nov 2015Publisher: ISBN-13: 9781783984749

Authors (2)

author image
Francisco Javier Blanco-Silva

I will always be indebted to Bradley J. Lucier and Rodrigo Bañuelos, for being a constant inspiration, for their guidance and teachings. Special thanks to my editors, Sriram Neelakantam, Bharat Patil, Nikhil Potdukhe, and Mohammad Rizvi. Many colleagues have contributed with encouragement and fruitful discussions. In particular, I would like to mention Parsa Bakhtary, Aaron Dutle, Edsel Peña, Pablo Sprechmann, Adam Taylor, and Holly Watson. But the most special thanks go without a doubt to my wife and daughter. Grace's love and smiles alone provided all the motivation, enthusiasm and skills to overcome any difficulties encountered during the pursuit of this book, and everything life threw at me ever since she was born.
Read more about Francisco Javier Blanco-Silva