Editing Statistical inference (section)

== Predictive inference {{anchor|Prediction}} ==
Predictive inference is an approach to statistical inference that emphasizes the [[prediction]] of future observations based on past observations.

Initially, predictive inference was based on ''observable'' parameters and it was the main purpose of studying [[probability]],{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} but it fell out of favor in the 20th century due to a new parametric approach pioneered by [[Bruno de Finetti]]. The approach modeled phenomena as a physical system observed with error (e.g., [[celestial mechanics]]). De Finetti's idea of [[exchangeability]]—that future observations should behave like past observations—came to the attention of the English-speaking world with the 1974 translation from French of his 1937 paper,<ref>{{cite journal |last=De Finetti |first=Bruno |title=La Prévision: ses lois logiques, ses sources subjectives |journal=Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincaré |year=1937 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–68 |issn=0365-320X }} Translated in {{cite book |chapter=Foresight: Its Logical Laws, Its Subjective Sources |title=Breakthroughs in Statistics |series=Springer Series in Statistics |year=1992 |pages=134–174 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4612-0919-5_10 |last1=De Finetti |first1=Bruno |isbn=978-0-387-94037-3 }}</ref> and has since been propounded by such statisticians as [[Seymour Geisser]].<ref name="geisser">[[Seymour Geisser|Geisser, Seymour]] (1993) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=wfdlBZ_iwZoC Predictive Inference: An Introduction]'', CRC Press. {{isbn|0-412-03471-9}}</ref>