ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews the basics of Bayesian statistics. It explains how to utilize Bayesian statistics in many practical applications. The chapter discusses a simple coin trick to utilize in the explanation and teaching of Bayesian statistics. Bayesian statistics was primarily attributed to Reverend Thomas Bayes. The chapter describes the classroom activity of coin trick to explain Bayes' theorem and illustrates the problem with subjectivity in prior knowledge. This exercise works excellently at understanding Bayesian statistics as it puts the formula into a real exercise—and that is not common. Bayes' formula is used often in court cases to counter a jury's intuition. The chapter provides some scenarios; probabilities are altered based on new information. The updated probabilities are referred to as prior probabilities, which will be altered by new information. Reverend Bayes tried to use Bayesian statistics to prove the existence of God.