parents

A Bayesian network (BN) [14, 19] is a combination of: • directed graph (DAG) G = (V, E), in which each node vi ∈ V corresponds to a random variable Xi (a gene, a trait, an environmental factor, etc.); • a global probability distribution over X = {Xi}, which can be split into simpler local probability distributions according to the arcs aij ∈ E present in the graph. This combination allows a compact representation of the joint distribution of high-dimensional problems, and simplifies inference using the graphical properties of G. Under some additional assumptions arcs may represent causal relationships [20]