Metropolis-Hastings and Bayesian Inference

Let's get the basic definition out of the way: Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods let us compute samples from a distribution even though we can't compute it. Let's back up and talk about Monte Carlo Sampling. What are Monte Carlo methods? "Monte Carlo methods, or Monte Carlo experiments, are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results." And you are tasked with determining the area enclosed by this shape.