where is the set of vertices that are
's parents in
the graph. A Bayesian network is fully specified by the combination of:
A small example Bayesian network structure for a (somewhat facetious/futuristic) medical diagnostic domain is shown below. This network might be used to diagnose whether a patient is suffering from a mere common cold (C) and/or the more dangerous Martian Death Flu (M), based on the patients' symptoms -- whether or not the patient has a runny nose (R), whether or not the patient has a headache (H), and whether or not the patient occasionally spontaneously bursts into flames (S) -- as well as relevant background information, namely whether or not he or she has previously visited Mars (V).
Assuming all six variables are binary, with 1 representing ``true'' and 0 ``false'', the probability tables for the network might be defined as follows:
Once a Bayesian network has been specified, it may be used to compute
any conditional probability one wishes to compute. For example, given
that a person has recently visited Mars and has a runny nose, the
network above could be used to compute the probability that the person has the common cold but not the Martian Death
Flu.
Bayesian networks are very convenient for representing systems of probabilistic causal relationships. The fact ``X often causes Y'' may easily be modeled in the network by adding a directed arc from X to Y and setting the probabilities appropriately. On the other hand, if A has no causal influence on B, we may simply leave out an arc from A to B. (For example, there is no arc from C to S in the network above, since the common cold presumably neither causes nor prevents spontaneous combustion.)
Some important Bayesian network caveats / research areas :