Maximum a posteriori estimation

lastmod 2018-08-17created 2017-11-172 edits

Maximum a posteriori (MAP) refers to the mode of the posterior probability in Bayesian statistics. The parameter corresponding to the maximum a posteriori can be used as a point estimate of the parameter, like maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). The difference is that maximum likelihood finds the parameter that maximizes the probability of an event occurring, whereas the maximum a posteriori parameter takes into account the probability combined with the prior probability of the parameter.

See also

• Probability theory
• Bayesian probability / Bayes' theorem
• Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) Maximum a posteriori estimation
• Bayes' theorem, MLE, and MAP ¹

References