Conditional Probability in Medical Test Results Revealed in New Book

The New York Times April 25, 2010 Opinionator article, Chances Are by Steven Strogatz, states that there is a crucial link in the intuitive appreciation of the conditional probability involved in the evaluation of medical test results. This and other related gaps regarding the significance and clinical application of probabilistic data are the reasons why practicing physician Dr. Rudolf Zalter published his pioneering work, titled "The Diagnostic Process: Graphic Approach to Probability and Inference in Clinical Medicine."

The capacity to think in abstract terms of symbols and signals is, in general, beyond the formal training of the average medical graduate. Formal mathematics, no matter how straightforward, can only be introduced to and accepted by the medically trained if its symbolic language is "translated" so that it can be qualitatively (i.e. graphically and geometrically) described and analyzed. This is the key to the monograph. It is not so much the subject matter, but the mode of its presentation that makes this project a challenging task.

What makes this book innovative is that it is not another book on statistics. It is in essence a verbal and graphical portrait of the basic ideas of statistical inference and Bayesian decision analysis. Once a firm grasp of the simple concepts has been assimilated, the subject matter is at once rendered comprehensible, logically obvious and certainly less formidable.

A verbal and graphic portrait of the basic ideas and symbolic structure of conditional probability and statistical inference, "The Diagnostic Process" is designed to introduce health professionals, particularly practicing physicians, and struggling students to the use of probabilistic logic as a practicing tool in the diagnostic process. It helps students of all ages, in all fields, to cross the threshold from rote to comprehension.

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About the Author
Dr. Rudolf Zalter is a board-certified practicing internist with broad academic background, including postgraduate study in biotechnology at the Imperial College in London and the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. He also published another book, titled "Phonocardiography." He can be reached at rudolf.zalter(at)gmail(dot)com.

The Diagnostic Process * by Rudolf Zalter
Graphic Approach to Probability and Inference in Clinical Medicine
Publication Date: August 21, 2013
Trade Paperback; $23.99; 713 pages; 978-1-4836-5030-2
Trade Hardback; $34.99; 713 pages; 978-1-4836-5031-9
eBook; $3.99; 978-1-4836-5032-6

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