Quantifier Elimination for Statistical Problems

Recent improvement on Tarski's procedure for quantifier elimination in the first order theory of real numbers makes it feasible to solve small instances of the following problems completely automatically: 1. listing all equality and inequality constraints implied by a graphical model with hidden variables. 2. Comparing graphyical models with hidden variables (i.e., model equivalence, inclusion, and overlap). 3. Answering questions about the identification of a model or portion of a model, and about bounds on quantities derived from a model. 4. Determing whether a given set of independence assertions. We discuss the foundation of quantifier elimination and demonstrate its application to these problems.

Authors

• Dan Geiger
• Christopher Meek

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