Fundamentals of p-values: Introduction

Abstract

We explain the concept of p-values presupposing only rudimentary probability theory. We also use the occasion to introduce the notion of p-function, so that p-values are values of a p-function. The explanation is restricted to the discrete case with no outcomes of zero probability. We are going to address the general case elsewhere.

The article was written for (and will appear in) the Logic in Computer Science column at the Bulletin of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science