Tutorial on How to Measure Link Strengths in Discrete Bayesian Networks

Abstract

This report discusses measures for link strength in Discrete Bayesian Networks, i.e. measures for the strength of connection along a specific edge. It is a revised version of Report GT-IIC-07-01 (Jan 2007) with improved literature review and explanations. The target application is the visualization of the strengths of the edge connections in a Bayesian Network learned from data to learn more about the inherent properties of the system. The report reviews existing link strength measures, provides an accessible derivation of the primary measure, proposes some simple variations of the primary measure and compares their resulting properties.