Bayes-optimal estimation of overlap between populations of fixed size
Fig 1
Stochastic sampling leads to variation in observed overlap.
The members of two hypothetical populations are represented by blue and green circles, respectively. Each population has 16 members, and s = 5 are shared members of both populations. In two independent sampling experiments, shown in top and bottom rows, na = nb = 8 members are sampled at random from each population (dark circles) while the other 8 members are not sampled (transparent circles). Observation of the first experiment finds an overlap of nab = 4, while observation of the second finds nab = 0.