Bayesian Network | Sahithyan's Notes

A graphical model that represents the probabilistic relationships among a set of random variables. Uses a directed acyclic graph.

Provides a compact and intuitive representation of joint probability distributions using conditional independence and causal structure.

Node

Represents a random variable.

Each node has a local CPD.

The overall joint probability of all variables is:

P(X_1, X_2, \ldots, X_n) = \prod_{i=1}^{n} P(X_i | \text{Parents}(X_i))

Edge

Directed links. A link from node $X$ to node $Y$ means that $X$ has a direct influence on $Y$ .

Local Conditional Probability Distribution

Aka. CPD. A function defining the probability of a variable given its parents.

For a node $X_i$ with parents $\text{Parents}(X_i)$ , the CPD is:

P(X_i \,|\, \text{Parents}(X_i))

Specifies the relationship between a node and its parent nodes. Can be continuous or discrete. For discrete variables: represented using conditional probability table (CPT).

A CPT for a boolean variable $X_i$ with $k$ boolean parents has $2^k$ entries.

Joint Probability Distribution

Aka. JPD. The full joint probability for all variables in the network is the product of local conditional probabilities:

Example:

P(B, E, A, J, M) = P(B) \cdot P(E) \cdot P(A|B,E) \cdot P(J|A) \cdot P(M|A)

Here:

$P(B), P(E)$ is used because $B, E$ has no parents.
$P(A|B,E)$ because $A$ depends on both $B$ and $E$ .
$P(J|A), P(M|A)$ because $J, M$ depend only on $A$ .

This decomposition avoids the need to represent all combinations explicitly.

Inference

The goal is computing probabilities of interest given evidence.

By Enumeration

P(B|J,M) = \alpha \sum_E \sum_A P(B, E, A, J, M)

where $\alpha$ is a normalization constant ensuring probabilities sum to 1.

This method sums over hidden (unobserved) variables to find the posterior probability.

Conditional Independence

Patterns

Relationship Type	Structure	Independence Property
Common cause	$X ← Y → Z$	$X$ and $Z$ independent given $Y$
Common effect	$X → Y ← Z$	$X$ and $Z$ dependent given $Y$
Causal chain	$X → Y → Z$	$X$ and $Z$ independent given $Y$

Structure

Children are conditionally independent of ancestors given parents.
Siblings are conditionally independent given their common parent.
Parents are generally not conditionally independent given a child.

D-Separation

Used to test independences in a Bayesian network.

Steps:

List all paths between the 2 variables (ignore arrow direction).
For each path, identify the type of connection at each intermediate node
- Chain: $A → B → C$ or $A ← B ← C$
- Fork: $A ← B → C$
- Collider: $A → B ← C$
Apply blocking rules
- For chain or fork: path is blocked if middle node is conditioned
- For collider: path is blocked if both collider and its descendents are not conditioned
They are independent iff all paths between the 2 nodes are blocked.

Compactness and Efficiency

If every node has at most $k$ parents, total storage = $O(n \cdot 2^k)$ . This is linear in n, compared to $O(2^n)$ for the full joint distribution.

More compact than full joint tables.

Constructing a Bayesian Network

Choose variables relevant to the domain.
Decide an ordering of variables (causes before effects preferred).
For each variable $X_i$ $X_{i}$ :
- Add a node for $X_i$ .
- Select minimal parents ensuring conditional independence.
- Define the CPT for $X_i$ .