2 Brief Review of Probabilistic Modeling



Our focus in this chapter is on the construction of models, given descriptions of physical situations. Since many of these models will contain elements of uncertainty, at least from the model builder's point of view, we should review briefly the fundamentals of probabilistic modeling. While this material will serve as a review for those readers who have a solid grounding in probabilistic reasoning, it is still recommended reading for all, since concepts and results are developed that are of direct use in later chapters.