Sets of desirable gambles: Conditioning, representation, and precise probabilities

The theory of sets of desirable gambles is a very general model which covers most of the existing theories for imprecise probability as special cases; it has a clear and simple axiomatic justification; and mathematical definitions are natural and intuitive. However, much work remains to be done until the theory of desirable gambles can be considered as generally applicable to reasoning tasks as other approaches to imprecise probability are. This paper gives an overview of some of the fundamental concepts for reasoning with uncertainty expressed in terms of desirable gambles in the finite case, provides a characterization of regular extension, and studies the nature of maximally coherent sets of desirable gambles, which correspond to finite sequences of probability distributions, each one of them defined on the set where the previous one assigns probability zero.

► Desirable gambles representation are used to define conditioning. ► Regular extension characterized in terms of desirability. ► Algorithms for checking coherence and inference with sets of desirable gambles. ► Maximal sets of desirable gambles are studied and characterized.