In: Statistics and Probability
Suppose a college student at a university presents to a physician with symptoms of headaches, fever, and joint pain. Let A = {headaches, fever, and joint pain}, and suppose that the possible disease state of the patient can be partitioned into: B1 = normal, B2 = common cold, B3 = mumps. From clinical experience, the physician estimates P (AjBi ): P (AjB1) = 0.001, P (AjB2) = 0.70, P (AjB3) = 0.95. The physician, aware that some students have contracted the mumps, then estimates that for students at this university, P (B1) = 0.95, P (B2) = 0.025, and P (B3) = 0.025.
Given the previous symptoms, which of the disease states is most likely? Be sure to clearly show your work.