Minimum-integral decision region 2026-10-14
For integrable real , including points where decreases the integral and including points where increases it. Thus the negative set minimizes the integral, up to null sets and arbitrary choices where . This elementary signed-integral fact derives the Bayes classifier and cost-sensitive Bayes classifier.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 47 2 b iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
With zero cost for correct assignments, the total expected misclassification cost isThe part depending on is the integral of . Therefore the cost-sensitive Bayes classifier isFor positive costs and weighted densities, the log posterior-odds score from part (ii) now has threshold . Larger cost of sending class one to class two expands the region assigned to class one. The weighted-density comparison also handles zero costs without taking an undefined logarithm.