The White House Problem: The Beta-Binomial Conjugate

Abstract This chapter introduces the beta-binomial conjugate. There are special cases where a Bayesian prior probability distribution for an unknown parameter of interest can be quickly updated to a posterior distribution of the same form as the prior. In the “White House Problem,” a beta distribution is used to set the priors for all hypotheses of p, the probability that a famous person can get into the White House without an invitation. Binomial data are then collected, and provide the number of times a famous person gained entry out of a fixed number of attempts. The prior distribution is updated to a posterior distribution (also a beta distribution) in light of this new information. In short, a beta prior distribution for the unknown parameter + binomial data → beta posterior distribution for the unknown parameter, p. The beta distribution is said to be “conjugate to” the binomial distribution.