MATH3871 Bayesian Inference and Computation (UNSW Sydney): rated 2.5/5 overall across 12 reviews collected on UNSW Wall.
MATH3871 is a UNSW Sydney course taught by the Faculty of Science in School of Mathematics & Statistics. This page brings together its handbook details and what UNSW students say about it.
Review data updated 2026-10-24.
Chinese title: 贝叶斯推断与计算
Type: Undergraduate course
Credit points: 6
Subject area: School of Mathematics & Statistics
Faculty: Faculty of Science
Level: Undergraduate Level 3
Handbook year: 2026
After describing the fundamentals of Bayesian inference, this course will examine the specification of prior and posterior distributions, Bayesian decision theoretic concepts, the ideas behind Bayesian hypothesis tests, model choice and model averaging, and evaluate the capabilities of several common model types, such as hierarchical and mixture models. An important part of Bayesian inference is the requirement to numerically evaluate complex integrals on a routine basis.
MATH3871 has 12 scored reviews: overall 2.5/5 (all out of 5; higher difficulty means harder).
Sources: 12 Reddit comments that an AI model judged to be reviewing this course (average would-recommend 2.5/5).
On Reddit: "Did it 2018S2. Content: The course starts of quite easy. Typical Bayesian statistics and the idea of Bayesian updating, priors and posteriors. Things make good sense for the first half. Then we moved to Monte Carlo Markov Chains. A little more difficult. Felt like it wasn't expl…"
On Reddit: "Hey I did exactly what you did last year and ended up getting Cr for the course. Found it extremely difficult after around week 5 - even the 3rd years found it pretty tough. My opinion is to avoid it, but if you study the lecture slides for long enough, you'll be able to get it;…"
The course panel on UNSW Wall shows every review and discussion in full.
Q: Is MATH3871 worth taking?
A: Averaged over 12 reviews: overall 2.5/5.
Q: Which faculty teaches MATH3871, and when is it offered?
A: MATH3871 is taught by the Faculty of Science. Check the official handbook for the current year.
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