Sven Sandow eBooks

Utility-Based Learning from Data provides a pedagogical, self-contained discussion of probability estimation methods via a coherent approach from the viewpoint of a decision maker who acts in an uncertain environment. This approach is motivated by the idea that probabilistic models are usually not learned for their own sake; rather, they are used to make decisions. Specifically, the authors adopt the point of view of a decision maker who (i) operates in an uncertain environment where the consequences of possible outcomes are explicitly monetized,(ii) bases his decisions on a probabilistic model, and(iii) builds and assesses his models accordingly. These assumptions are naturally expressed in the language of utility theory, which is well known from fi...