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Probabilistic inference

Before concluding we provide a brief sketch of probabilistic inference in Birch.

Note

This section will be expanded in future.

Inference methods include those of the ParticleFilter class hierarchy, for sequentially filtering a model, and of the ParticleSampler class hierarchy, which build on these to draw samples from the posterior distribution.

As a model runs it emits an event every time a simulate (<~), observe (~>) or assume (~) operator executes. The inference method registers an appropriate event handler (from the Handler hierarchy) to handle these. The events provide insight into the model, and a means to influence its execution. The inference method may, for example, implement:

  • Importance sampling by using a combination of simulation and observation to compute importance weights.

  • Particle filtering or Sequential Monte Carlo by extending importance sampling with resampling between epochs.

  • Particle Gibbs.