Exercise · ZW-BAYES-THEOREM-008 · ★★★ Advanced

A disease affects 1 %. The test is positive for 99 % of the sick and 5 % of the healthy. If you test positive, what is the probability you are sick?

Choose one option.

Show answer
  • C. 1/6

Explanation

\(\dfrac{0.01\cdot0.99}{0.01\cdot0.99+0.99\cdot0.05}=\dfrac{0.0099}{0.0594}=\dfrac16\). With a rare disease, most positives are false.

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Review the concept: Bayes' theorem

Bayes' theorem inverts a conditional probability: it gives the probability \(P(B_j\mid A)\) of a cause \(B_j\) given an observed effect \(A\), from the probability of the effect given that cause.

\[P(B_j\mid A)=\frac{P(A\mid B_j)\,P(B_j)}{\sum_{i}P(A\mid B_i)\,P(B_i)}\]

More practice problems: bayes' theorem

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