Variational Bayesian methods

Variational Bayesian methods are a way of doing math to figure out the most likely answers to questions about things that have many possible answers. To do this, we look at all the possible answers, and then our method narrows down the possible answers to just the ones that make the most sense. This is like when you are trying to figure out what you are going to eat for dinner; you might think of lots of different options, but then you narrow them down until you decide on the one that sounds the best.