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Let be the event Person X has disease Z. Lt moreover assume that Z is a rare dia

ID: 3064500 • Letter: L

Question

Let be the event Person X has disease Z. Lt moreover assume that Z is a rare diaase, Le., the probability that a X has discase Z is 0.01. Let us assume a certain diagnostic exam is performed on X and it indicates that X indeed has discase Z. However, the exam is not perfect, .e., it has a false positive rate of 0.1, .e., there is 0.1 probability that the exam determines X has the discase, even though this is not the case. Moreover, it has a missed detection probability of 0.05, i.c., there is a 0.05 probability that the exam determines that X does not have the discase when instead X has indeed the discase. In the light of the exam result, what is the posterior probability that X has discase Z? If the exam is performed twice, and both times it indicates that person X has the discase, would the probability change? If your answer is "yes explain why and how it will change. If your answer is "no" explain why it will not change.

Explanation / Answer

Baye's theorem - P(A | B) = P (A and B)/P(B)

P(test indicating X has disease) = P(test indicating X has disease when he actually has disease) + P(test indicating X has disease when he is not having disease)

P(X has disease Z when the test indicates that X has disease) = P(X has disease and test indicates the same)/P(test indicates X has disease)

= 0.01x1/(0.01x1 + 0.99x0.1)

= 0.0917

If the exam is performed twice, and both times its indicated that the person has disease, the probability that he actually has disease

= P(having disease and both times test indicating he has)/P(both times test indicating he has)

= 0.01/(0.01 + 0.99x0.1x0.1)

= 0.5025

so, the probability will change (explanation is the calculation of probability given above)