Publisher's Synopsis
Statistics is concerned with investigating the degree of confidence we can have in various hypotheses. The Bayesian approach is distinguished by giving each hypothesis a probability and then modifying it in the light of the experimental data. This is controversial because for a new theory with no data available, an element of guesswork has to be involved. The author presents the ideas behind Bayesian statistics at a level suitable for advanced undergraduate or postgraduate students. The discrepancies between the conclusions of Bayesian and classical statistics are highlighted.