Part A)
I have the following notations :
- $p(\mu, \sigma^2)$
- $N(x)$
- $p(x | \mu, \sigma^2)$
I would read them in the following manner:
- probability function with 2 parameters, namely $\mu$ and $\sigma^2$
- normal distribution of variable $x$
- distribution of variable $x$ with parameters $\mu$ and $\sigma^2$
Part B)
If the above is correct, then please check my interpretation of :
- $p(x,y)$
- $p(x | y,a,b,c,d)$
my interpretation :
- probabilty function of 2 independent variables
- probability of variable $x$, given the probability for $y$ and parameters $a,b,c$ are known
Part C)
The follwoing notation is equal
$p(y∣x)$ is equal to $p_{Y∣X}(y∣x)$ is equal to $P(Y=y∣X=x)$
and the above notaitons in Part A and Part B can be rewritten in similar manner.
I would conclude my understanding as follows:
$p(variable|parameters)$
where the $variable$ is the input to the function $p(x)$, and the $parameters$ are the parameters of $p(...)$ and as such, need to be known prior to the evaluation of $p(x)$