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    • The taxi problem revisited

      1 January, 1998
      January 1998


      In this issue's article "Image analysis - a modern application of mathematics", Julian Stander introduced the idea of using Bayes' Theorem to update our beliefs based on new information.

      We can use Bayes' Theorem to solve the taxi problem in Issue No. 2 (see "The taxi problem" ):

      A witness sees a crime involving a taxi in Carborough. The witness says that the taxi is blue. It is known from previous research that witnesses are correct 80% of the time when making such statements. The police also know that 85% of the taxis in Carborough are blue. What is the probability that a blue taxi was involved in the crime?

      Solution

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      Jan

      25 July 2016

      Permalink
      Comment

      Don't spend your time on this one. See /content/taxi-problem for a corrected problem formulation /content/yet-more-taxis

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      Read more about...

      bayes theorem
      conditional probability
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