Book Image

Bayesian Analysis with Python - Third Edition

By : Osvaldo Martin
Book Image

Bayesian Analysis with Python - Third Edition

By: Osvaldo Martin

Overview of this book

The third edition of Bayesian Analysis with Python serves as an introduction to the main concepts of applied Bayesian modeling using PyMC, a state-of-the-art probabilistic programming library, and other libraries that support and facilitate modeling like ArviZ, for exploratory analysis of Bayesian models; Bambi, for flexible and easy hierarchical linear modeling; PreliZ, for prior elicitation; PyMC-BART, for flexible non-parametric regression; and Kulprit, for variable selection. In this updated edition, a brief and conceptual introduction to probability theory enhances your learning journey by introducing new topics like Bayesian additive regression trees (BART), featuring updated examples. Refined explanations, informed by feedback and experience from previous editions, underscore the book's emphasis on Bayesian statistics. You will explore various models, including hierarchical models, generalized linear models for regression and classification, mixture models, Gaussian processes, and BART, using synthetic and real datasets. By the end of this book, you will possess a functional understanding of probabilistic modeling, enabling you to design and implement Bayesian models for your data science challenges. You'll be well-prepared to delve into more advanced material or specialized statistical modeling if the need arises.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Preface
12
Bibliography
13
Other Books You May Enjoy
14
Index

Chapter 6
Modeling with Bambi

A good tool improves the way you work. A great tool improves the way you think. – Jeff Duntemann

In Chapter 4, we described the basic ingredients of linear regression models and how to generalize them to better fit our needs. In this chapter, we are going to keep learning about linear models, but this time, we are going to work with Bambi [Capretto et al.2022], a high-level Bayesian model-building interface written on top of PyMC. Bambi is designed to make it extremely easy to fit linear models, including hierarchical ones. We will see that Bambi’s domain is more comprehensive than just linear models.

We are going to learn about:

  • Using Bambi to build and fit models

  • Analyzing results with Bambi

  • Polynomial regression and splines

  • Distributional models

  • Categorical predictors

  • Interactions

  • Variable selection with Kulprit