Of priors and prejudice

M. G. Bowler

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arXiv · 1205.1946

Of priors and prejudice

M. G. Bowler

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Abstract

If species abundance distributions are dominated by the simple processes of individuals in a community giving birth and death independently, the result is a log series distribution. I calculate this in a number of different ways, using both master equations and also the combinatoric methods of elementary statistical mechanics. Considerable light is shed on the nature and role of 'priors' in the language of MaxEnt.

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M. G. Bowler. 2012-05-09. Of priors and prejudice. https://arxiv.org/abs/1205.1946

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