data science

for (physical) scientists 7

 

 
dr.federica bianco | fbb.space |    fedhere |    fedhere 

k-NN

 

this slide deck

 

   1-how to choose a model: principle of parsimony

fitting a model to data

   2 ->1 order equation

 

   3 - uncertainties in the fit parameters

 

   4 - comparing models (LR, AIC, BIC)

 

   5 - MCMC

 

Logarithms

MONOTONICALLY INCREASING

 

if x grows, log(x) grows, if x decreases, log(x) decreases

the location of the maximum is the same!

Logarithms

 

 

SUPPORT :

(0,\infty]

MONOTONICALLY INCREASING

Logarithms

 

 

SUPPORT :

(0,\infty]

Not a problem cause L like P is positive defined

MONOTONICALLY INCREASING

likelihood, probability, and objective functions

L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, m, b)
L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, \sigma_i, m, b)
p(y_i) = \frac{1}{\sigma_i \sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b))^2 }{2 \sigma_i^2}}
\ln{L (m,b | \vec{y} )} = \ln { \prod_i^N{\frac{1}{\sigma_i\sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{y_i - (mx_i + b) }{2 \sigma_i^2}}}}
\log a\cdot b = \log a + \log b

likelihood, probability, and objective functions

L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, m, b)
L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, \sigma_i, m, b)
p(y_i) = \frac{1}{\sigma_i \sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b))^2 }{2 \sigma_i^2}}
\ln{L (m,b | \vec{y} )} = \ln { \prod{\frac{1}{\sigma_i\sqrt{2\pi}}}} + \ln \left(\prod_i^Ne^{-\frac{y_i - (mx_i + b) }{2 \sigma_i^2}}\right)
x^a \cdot x^b = x^{(a+b)}

likelihood, probability, and objective functions

L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, m, b)
L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, \sigma_i, m, b)
p(y_i) = \frac{1}{\sigma_i \sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b))^2 }{2 \sigma_i^2}}
\ln{L (m,b | \vec{y} )} = \ln { \prod{\frac{1}{\sigma_i\sqrt{2\pi}}}} + \ln \left(e^{-\sum_i^N\frac{y_i - (mx_i + b) }{2 \sigma_i^2}}\right)

likelihood, probability, and objective functions

L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, m, b)
L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, \sigma_i, m, b)
p(y_i) = \frac{1}{\sigma_i \sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b))^2 }{2 \sigma_i^2}}
\ln{L (m,b | \vec{y} )} = \ln { \prod{\frac{1}{\sigma_i\sqrt{2\pi}}}} + \ln \left(e^{-\sum_i^N\frac{y_i - (mx_i + b) }{2 \sigma_i^2}}\right)
\sigma_i

not part of the model

likelihood, probability, and objective functions

L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, m, b)
L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, \sigma_i, m, b)
p(y_i) = \frac{1}{\sigma_i \sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b))^2 }{2 \sigma_i^2}}
\ln{L (m,b | \vec{y} )} = K - \sum{\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b) )^2}{2 \sigma_i^2}}

likelihood, probability, and objective functions

L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, m, b)
L (m,b | \vec{y} ) = \prod_i^N p_i( y_i | x_i, \sigma_i, m, b)
p(y_i) = \frac{1}{\sigma_i \sqrt{2\pi}} \exp{-\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b))^2 }{2 \sigma_i^2}}
\ln{L (m,b | \vec{y} )} = K - \sum{\frac{(y_i - (mx_i + b) )^2}{2 \sigma_i^2}} = K - \frac{1}{2}\chi^2

think about the likelihood surfece...

 

you want to explore the surface and find a peak

param

likelihood

100
200
-100
-200

-log(likelihood)

param

think about the likelihood surfece...

 

you want to explore the surface and find a peak

slope

intercept

think about the likelihood surfece...

 

you want to explore the surface and find a peak

possible issues:

 - how do I efficiently explore the whole surface?

 - how do I explore the WHOLE survey at all?

 - how do I avoid getting stuck in a local minimum (maximum)?

 

The problem of fitting models to data reduces to finding the

maximum likelihood

of the data given the model

 

This is effectively done by finding the minimum of the

-log(likelihood)

Summary

Model Selection

principles

2.1

what model should I choose?

the answer truly depends on what you are modeling for and what domain knowledge is available

except:

 

the principle of parsimony

 

the principle of parsimony

or Ockham's razor

Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate


William of Ockham (logician and Franciscan friar) 1300ca

but probably to be attributed to John Duns Scotus (1265–1308)


“Complexity needs not to be postulated without a need for it”


 
 
 

the principle of parsimony

 

Peter Apian, Cosmographia, Antwerp, 1524 from Edward Grant, "Celestial Orbs in the Latin Middle Ages", Isis, Vol. 78, No. 2. (Jun., 1987).

Peter Apian, Cosmographia, Antwerp, 1524 from Edward Grant,

"Celestial Orbs in the Latin Middle Ages", Isis, Vol. 78, No. 2. (Jun., 1987).

Geocentric models are intuitive:

from our perspective we see the Sun moving, while we stay still

the earth is round,

and it orbits around the sun

the principle of parsimony

 

Peter Apian, Cosmographia, Antwerp, 1524 from Edward Grant, "Celestial Orbs in the Latin Middle Ages", Isis, Vol. 78, No. 2. (Jun., 1987).

As observations improve

this model can no longer fit the data!

not easily anyways...

the earth is round,

and it orbits around the sun

Encyclopaedia Brittanica 1st Edition

Dr Long's copy of Cassini, 1777

the principle of parsimony

 

Peter Apian, Cosmographia, Antwerp, 1524 from Edward Grant, "Celestial Orbs in the Latin Middle Ages", Isis, Vol. 78, No. 2. (Jun., 1987).

A new model that is much simpler fit the data just as well

(perhaps though only until better data comes...)

the earth is round,

and it orbits around the sun

Heliocentric model from Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium.

the principle of parsimony

or Ockham's razor

Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate

 

William of Ockham (logician and Franciscan friar) 1300ca

but probably to be attributed to John Duns Scotus (1265–1308)

 

“Complexity needs not to be postulated without a need for it”

 

 
 
 

the principle of parsimony

or Ockham's razor

Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate

 

William of Ockham (logician and Franciscan friar) 1300ca

but probably to be attributed to John Duns Scotus (1265–1308)

 

“Complexity needs not to be postulated without a need for it”

“Between 2 theories that perform similarly choose the simpler one

 

 
 
 
 

the principle of parsimony

or Ockham's razor

Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate

 

William of Ockham (logician and Franciscan friar) 1300ca

but probably to be attributed to John Duns Scotus (1265–1308)

 

“Complexity needs not to be postulated without a need for it”

“Between 2 theories that perform similarly choose the one with fewer parameters

 

 
 
 
 
 

the principle of parsimony

 

Since all models are wrong the scientist cannot obtain a "correct" one by excessive elaboration. On the contrary following William of Occam he should seek an economical description of natural phenomena

 

Since all models are wrong the scientist must be alert to what is importantly wrong.

Science and Statistics George E. P. Box (1976)

Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 71, No. 356, pp. 791-799.

the principle of parsimony

 

Careful!

Increasing the model's degrees freedom allows a "better fit" in the in-sample set

Model Selection

methods

2.2

HOW DO I CHOOSE A MODEL?

Given two models which is preferable?

 

Likelihood-ratio tests

 likelihood ratio statistics LR

LR = -2 log_e \frac{L\mathrm{(simple~model)}}{L\mathrm{(complex~model})}

NESTED MODELS : one model contains the other one, e.g.

y= mx + l 

is contained in

y=ax**2+ mx + l

 

statsmodels.model.compare_lr_ratio()

A rigorous answer (in terms of NHST) can be obtained for 2 nested models

This directly answers the question:

“is my more complex model overfitting the data?”

The LR statistics is expected to follow a χ^2 distrbution under the Null Hypothesis that the simpler model is preferable

HOW DO I CHOOSE A MODEL?

Given two models which is preferable?

 

Likelihood-ratio tests

NESTED MODELS : one model contains the other one, e.g.

y= mx + l 

is contained in

y=ax**2+ mx + l

 

A rigorous answer (in terms of NHST) can be obtained for 2 nested models

This directly answers the question:

“is my more complex model overfitting the data?”

The LR statistics is expected to follow a χ^2 distrbution under the Null Hypothesis that the simpler model is preferable

from scipy.stats.distributions import chi2
def likelihood_ratio(llmin, llmax):
    return(-2*(llmax-llmin))

LR = likelihood_ratio(L1,L2)

p = chi2.sf(LR, dof) 
# dof: difference in number of parameters 
print ('p: %.30f' % p)
# LR is chi squared distributed: 
# p represents the probability that this result
# (or a more extreme result than this)
# would happen by chance

HOW DO I CHOOSE A MODEL?

Given two models which is preferable?

 

Likelihood-ratio tests

 likelihood ratio statistics LR

LR = -2 log_e \frac{L\mathrm{(complex~model)}}{L\mathrm{(simple~model})}

statsmodels.model.compare_lr_ratio()

The LR statistics is expected to follow a χ^2 distrbution under the Null Hypothesis that the simpler model is preferable

difference in number of parameters between the 2 models

MLTSA:

model selection

Shannon 1948: A Mathematical Theory of Communication

a theory to find fundamental limits on signal processing and communication operations such as data compression 

 

model selection is also based on the minimization of a quantity. Several quantities are suitable: 

 

MLD

BIC

Bayese theorem

AIC

Optimism and likelihood maximization on the training set

MLTSA:

AIC, BIC, & MDL

{\displaystyle {\text{AIC}}=-\frac{2}{N}\log(L)+\frac{2}{N}k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}

number of parameters: 

Model Complexity

Likelihood: Model Performance.

Akaike information criterion (AIC) .

Based on 

where                 is a family of function (=densities) containing the correct (=true) function and    is the set of parameters that maximized the likelihood L

L is the likelihood of the data, k is the number of parameters,

N the number of variables.

 

\hat{\theta}
\lim_{N\to\infty} (-2 E(\log Pr_{\hat{\theta}}(Y)) ) = -\frac{2}{N} E ~\log(L) + d\frac{2}{N}
Pr_{\hat{\theta}}(Y)

MLTSA:

AIC, BIC, & MDL

{\displaystyle {\text{AIC}}=-\frac{2}{N}\log(L)+\frac{2}{N}k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}

number of parameters: 

Model Complexity

Likelihood: Model Performance.

\hat{\theta}

"-" sign in front of the log-likelihood:  AIC shrinks for better models,

AIC ~ k => is linearly proportional to the number of parameters  

Akaike information criterion (AIC) .

Based on 

where                 is a family of function (=densities) containing the correct (=true) function and    is the set of parameters that maximized the likelihood L

L is the likelihood of the data, k is the number of parameters,

N the number of observations.

 

\lim_{N\to\infty} (-2 E(\log Pr_{\hat{\theta}}(Y)) ) = -\frac{2}{N} E ~\log(L) + \frac{2}{N}d
Pr_{\hat{\theta}}(Y)

MLTSA:

AIC, BIC, & MDL

{\displaystyle {\text{BIC}}=-2\log(L)+\log(N)k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}

Likelihood: Model Performance.

number of parameters: 

Model Complexity

Bayesian information criterion (BIC) .

L is the likelihood of the data, k is the number of parameters,

N the number of observations.

stronger penalization of complexity (as long as N>     )

e^2

The derivation is very different: 

\frac{P(M_m | D)}{P(M_l | D)} = \frac{P(M_m)}{P(M_l)}\cdot\frac{P(D|M_m)}{P(D|M_l)}

Bayes Factor

MLTSA:

AIC, BIC, & MDL

{\displaystyle {\text{MDL}}= -\log(L(\theta)) – \log(L(y | X, \theta))} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}

Minimum Description Length (MDL) .

negative log-likelihood of the model parameters (θ) and the negative log-likelihood of the target values (y) given the input values (X) and the model parameters (θ).

also: log(L(θ)): number of bits required to represent the model,

log(L(y| X,θ)): number of bits required to represent the predictions on observations

minimize the encoding of the model and its predictions

derived from Shannon's theorem of information

MLTSA:

AIC, BIC, & MDL

{\displaystyle {\text{MDL}}= -\log(L(\theta)) – \log(L(y | X, \theta))} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}
{\displaystyle {\text{BIC}}=-2\log(L)+\log(N)k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}
{\displaystyle {\text{AIC}}=-\frac{2}{N}\log(L)+\frac{2}{N}k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}

Mathematically similar, though derived from different approaches. All used the same way: the preferred model is the model that minimized the estimator

MLTSA:

AIC, BIC, & MDL

{\displaystyle {\text{MDL}}= -\log(L(\theta)) – \log(L(y | X, \theta))} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}
{\displaystyle {\text{BIC}}=-2\log(L)+\log(N)k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}
{\displaystyle {\text{AIC}}=-\frac{2}{N}\log(L)+\frac{2}{N}k} %=\\ {\displaystyle AIC+(2(p+q+k)(p+q+k+1))/(T-p-q-k-1).}

HOW DO I CHOOSE A MODEL?

Given two models which is preferable?

 

AIC - BIC

also consider at Akaike and Bayesian Information Criteria for not nested models: 

both are returned in a statsmodel fit

A rigorous answer (in terms of NHST) can be obtained for 2 nested models

This directly answers the question:

“is my more complex model overfitting the data?”

The LR statistics is expected to follow a χ^2 distrbution under the Null Hypothesis that the simpler model is preferable

they are calculated combining the likelihood with a penalization for the extra parameters

generally both  decrease with increasing increasing likelihood but you would look for the place where they start decreasing slowly as the "sweet spot" for your model

MCMC

posterior

Goal: sample the posterior distribution

Examples of how to choose the next point

Metropolis-Hasting

 

 Gaussian random walk proposal distribution

choose a random starting point  current = θo = (m,b)

WHILE convergence criterion is met:

             calculate the current posterior post_curr = P(D| θo,f)
             /*proposal*/

             draw a new set of parameters  new = θnew = (m,b)

         calculate the current posterior post_new = P(D| θnew,f)

             IF post_new > post_curr:

                   current = new

         ELSE

                            /*accept with probability P(D| θnew,f)/P(D| θo,f) */

                           r = random uniform number [0,1]

                            IF r < post_new / post_curr:

                                   current = new

                            ELSE

                             pass //do nothing

 

MCMC

posterior

Goal: sample the posterior distribution

Examples of how to choose the next point

Gibbs sampling:

Metropolis-Hastings proposal distribution with change along a single direction at a time => always accept

must know the conditional distribution of each variable 

 

MCMC

posterior

Goal: sample the posterior distribution

Examples of how to choose the next point

Other options:

simulated annealing (good for multimodal)
parallel tempering (good for multimodal)
differential evoution (good for covariant spaces)

MCMC

posterior

Goal: sample the posterior distribution

Examples of how to choose the next point

affine invariant : EMCEE package

1

MCMC

Examples of how to choose the next point

Other options:

simulated annealing (good for multimodal)
parallel tempering (good for multimodal)
differential evoution (good for covariant spaces)

MCMC

Examples of how to choose the next point

Other options:

Hamiltonian MC: proposing moves to distant states which maintain a high probability of acceptance due to the approximate energy conserving properties of the simulated Hamiltonian

simulated annealing (good for multimodal)
parallel tempering (good for multimodal)
differential evoution (good for covariant spaces)

Examples of how to choose the next point

affine invariant : EMCEE package

1
1

MCMC

MCMC convergence

MCMC convergence

s_x ~=~\sqrt{\frac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^N(x_i - \bar{x})^2}
r_{xy} = \frac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^N\left(\frac{x_i - \bar{x}}{s_x}\right)\left(\frac{y_i - \bar{y}}{s_y}\right)

Pearson's test: tests linear correlation

import scipy as sp
print("Pearson's correlation {:.2}, approximate p-value {:.2}".format(
    *sp.stats.pearsonr(x, y)))

Pearson's correlation 0.94, approximate p-value 2.9e-49

correlation

s_x ~=~\sqrt{\frac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^N(x_i - \bar{x})^2}
r_{xy} = \frac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^N\left(\frac{x_i - \bar{x}}{s_x}\right)\left(\frac{y_i - \bar{y}}{s_y}\right)

Pearson's test

autocorrelation

correlation

ACF(lag) = \frac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^N\left(\frac{x_i - \bar{x}}{s_x}\right)\left(\frac{x_j - \bar{x}}{s_x}\right)
i-j = \mathrm{lag}

MCMC convergence

  1. check autocorrelation within a chain (Raftery)
  2. check that all chains coverged to same region (a stationary distribution GelmanRubin)
  3. mean at beginning = mean at end (Geweke)
  4. check that entire chain reached stationary distribution (or a final fraction of the chain, Heidelberg-Welch using Cramer-von-Mises statistic)

Stochastic process

A random variable indexed by time. 

For any subset of points in time the dependent variable follows the a probability distribution

 e.g. 

p(x_{t1}…x_{tn}) \sim N(\mu, \sigma)
pl.figure(figsize=(20,5))
N = 200
np.random.seed(100)
y = np.random.randn(N)
t = np.linspace(0, N, N, endpoint=False)
pl.plot(t, y, lw=2)
pl.xlabel("time")
pl.ylabel("y");

Discrete stochastic process

pl.hist(y[20:70])
pl.hist(y[100:150])

strictly stationary process

p (x_i....x_{n+i}) \sim p(x_i + \Delta x....x_{n+i}+ \Delta x)

A time series is strictly stationary if for any i and Δt

MCMC convergence

  1. check autocorrelation within a chain (Raftery)
  2. check that all chains coverged to same region (a stationary distribution GelmanRubin)
  3. mean at beginning = mean at end (Geweke)
  4. check that entire chain reached stationary distribution (or a final fraction of the chain, Heidelberg-Welch using Cramer-von-Mises statistic)

MCMC convergence

  1. check autocorrelation within a chain (Raftery)
  2. check that all chains coverged to same region (a stationary distribution GelmanRubin)
  3. mean at beginning = mean at end (Geweke)
  4. check that entire chain reached stationary distribution (or a final fraction of the chain, Heidelberg-Welch using Cramer-von-Mises statistic)

MCMC convergence

  1. check autocorrelation within a chain (Raftery)
  2. check that all chains coverged to same region (a stationary distribution GelmanRubin)
  3. mean at beginning = mean at end (Geweke)
  4. check that entire chain reached stationary distribution (or a final fraction of the chain, Heidelberg-Welch using Cramer-von-Mises statistic)

key concepts

 

Stochastic Processes in Science Inference: with the advent of computers (1940s), simulations became a valuable  alternative to analytical derivation to solve complex scientific problems, and the only way to solve non-tractable problems. Events that occur with a known probability can be simulated, the possible outcomes would be simulated with a frequency corresponding to the probability.

Applications: Instances of the evolution of a complex systems can be simulated, and from this synthetic (simulated) sample solutions can be generalized as they would from a sample observed from a population:

 

Physics example: simulate multibody interactions (e.g. asteroids or particles in large systems) or nuclear reaction chains

Urban e.g.. simulate traffic flow to determine the average trip duration instead of measuring many trips to estimate the trip duration,

or a better scheme would be: simulate traffic flow and validate your simulation by comparing the average trip duration for a synthetic sample and from a sample observed from the real system, then simulate  proposed changes to traffic to validate and evaluate planning options before implementing them.

Simulations require drawing samples from distributions.

We did not cocer this but it is important - you wont need to do it cause python numpy/scipy does it for you... but you should know this

Drawing samples from a distribution can be done directly if the probability PDF P(X) can be integrated analytically to find a CDF F(x) and if this CDF is invertible (F-1(u)  can be calculated analytically) . The algorithm is:

  1. draw a uniformly distributed number u between [0-1]
  2. invert the CDF of your distribution evaluated at u: x=F-1(u) is a sample from the desired PDF (i.e. x’s are drawn at a frequency P(x) )

If F(x) or F-1(u)  cannot be calculated analytically Rejection Sampling  allows to sample from the desired P(x) . The algorithm is:

  1. find a function Q(x) that is larger than P(x) for every x and that has an analytical, integrable, invertible form
  2. draw a sample x  from Q(x) (see above)
  3. draw a uniformly distributed number u between [0-Q(x)]
  4. only accept x where u <= P(x)

If your proposal distribution is poorly chosen (much higher than P(x) in some regions) this can be an extremely wasteful process. The higher the problem dimensionality the more this issue becomes a concern. Alternatives include Importance sampling where the integral of the PDF is performed numerically with a correction for every x given by the ratio of P(x) to Q(x)

Markovian processes: A process is Markovian if the next state of the system is determined stochastically as a perturbation of the current state of the system, and only the current state of the system, i.e. the system has no memory of earlier states (a memory-less process).

A state being a stochastic perturbation of the previous state means that given the conditions of the state at time t (e.g. A(t) = (position+velocity) ) the next set of conditions A(t+1) (updated position+velocity) will be drawn from a distribution related to the earlier state. For example the next velocity can be a sample from a Gaussian distribution with mean equal to the current velocity.  A(t+1) ~ N(A(t), s)

Bayes theorem: relates observed data to proposed models by allowing to calculate the posterior distribution of model parameters for a given prior and observed dataset (see glossary for term definition).

Posterior(data, model-parameters) = Likelihood(data, model-parameters) * Prior(model-parameters)

                                                                                           Evidence(data)

2

key concepts

 

key concepts

 

Markov Chain Monte Carlo: Is a method to sample a parameter space that is based on Bayes theorem. The MCMC samples the joint posterior of the parameters in the model (up to a constant, the evidence, probability of observing your data under any model parameter choice, which is generally not calculable). Thus we can get posterior median, confidence intervals, covariance, etc…  The algorithm is:

1. starting at some location in the parameter space propose a new location as a Markovian perturbation of the current location

2. if the proposal posterior is better than the posterior at the current location update your position (and save the new position in the chain)

3. if the proposal posterior is worse than the posterior at the current location update your position with some probability α

The choice of the proposal distribution and rule α for accepting the new step in the chain have to satisfy the ergodic condition, that is: given enough time the entire parameter space would be sampled. (Detailed Balance is a sufficient condition for ergodicity)

If the chain is Markovian and the proposal distribution is ergodic the entire parameter space is sample, given enough time, with sampling frequency proportional to the posterior distribution

Different MCMC algorithms: while all MCMC algorithm share the structure above the choice of proposal and the acceptance probability are different for different MCMC algorithms.

Metropolis Hastings MCMC is the first and most common MCMC with acceptance proportional to the ratio of posteriors:            α~posteriorNew/posteriorCurrent. This becomes problematic when the posterior has multiple peaks (may not explore them all) or parameter are highly covariant (may take a very long time to converge)

Convergence: It is crucial to confirm that your chains have converged and your parameter space is properly sampled, but it is also very difficult to do it. Methods include checking for stationarity of the chain means and low auto correlation in the chains. The beginning of the chain is typically removed as the chains require a minimum number of steps to move away from the initial position effectively.

 

glossary

 
  • Stochastic: random, following any distribution
  • PDF: probability distribution function P(x) describes the relative likelihood of sample x compared
  • CDF: cumulative distribution function - the probability that a value drawn from a distribution will be smaller than x
  • Marginalize: integrate along a dimension
  • Gaussian distribution: a distribution with PDF
  • Chi Squared χ2: a model fitting method based on the provable fact that  the function

(under proper assumption)   follows a χ2 distribution

  • Likelihood: in Bayes theorem its the term indicating the probability of the data under the model for a choice of parameters. More generally it can be thought of the probability of the parameters given the data
  • Posterior: the probability of data given model calculated by Beyes theorem as likelihood * prior / evidence
  • Evidence: the probability of the data given a model marginalized over all parameters
  • Prior: prior, or otherwise obtained, knowledge about the problem which indicates how likeli the model parameter are for any value
  • Markovian process: a process whose next stage depends stochastically on the current state only
  • Ergodic: a process that given enough time would visit all location of the space
  • Markov Chain: an N dimensional sequence of values of each parameter of the N-dim parameter space that is explored by an MCMC
 

resources

 

A blog by

https://twiecki.io

VP of data science at Quantopian

Ensemble samplers with affine invariance

Jonathan Goodman and Jonathan Weare 2010

Numerical Recipes

Bill Press+ 1992 (+)

Bill Press (Numerical Recipes) Video          

proving how Metropolis-Hastings  sutisfied  Detail Balance

resources

 

EMCEE readme

provides high level discussion, references, suggestion on parameter choices

D. Foreman-Mackey, D. Hogg, D. Lang, J. Goodman+ 2012

reading

 

k-Nearest    Neighbor

3

Machine Learning

unsupervised learning

identify features and create models that allow to understand structure in the data

unsupervised learning

identify features and create models that allow to understand structure in the data

supervised learning

extract features and create models that allow prediction where the correct answer is known for a subset of the data

 

k-Nearest Neighbors

Calculate the distance d to all known objects

Select the k closest objects

Assign the most common among the k classes: 
# k = 1
d = distance(x, trainingset)
C(x) = C(trainingset[argmin(d)])
C^{kNN}(x) = Y_{(1)}
C^{kNN}(x) = Y_{(1)}

"lazy learner"

Calculate the distance d to all known objects

Select the k closest objects

Classification: 
Assign the most common among the k classes

 

Regression:
Predict the average (median) of the k target values 

 

k-Nearest Neighbors

Good

non parametric

very good with large training sets

Cover and Hart 1967: As n→∞, the 1-NN error is no more than twice the error of the Bayes Optimal classifier. 

 

k-Nearest Neighbors

Good

non parametric

very good with large training sets

Cover and Hart 1967: As n→∞, the 1-NN error is no more than twice the error of the Bayes Optimal classifier. 

Let xNN be the nearest neighbor of x.

For n→∞,  xNN→x(t) => dist(xNN,x(t))→0

Theorem: e[C(x(t)) = C(xNN)]< e_BayesOpt

e_BayesOpt = argmaxy P(y|x)

Proof: assume P(y|xt) = P(y|xNN)

(always assumed in ML)

eNN = P(y|x(t)) (1−P(y|xNN)) +          P(y|xNN) (1−P(y|x(t))) ≤

(1−P(y|xNN)) + (1−P(y|x(t))) =

2 (1−P(y|x(t)) = 2ϵBayesOpt,

 

 

k-Nearest Neighbors

Good

non parametric

very good with large training sets

 

Not so good

it is only as good as the distance metric

If the similarity in feature space reflect similarity in label then it is perfect!

 

poor if training sample is sparse

 

poor with outliers

 

 

k-Nearest Neighbors

 

k-Nearest Neighbors

Wine Example

 

Lazy Learning

PROS:

Because the model does not need to provide a global optimization the classification is "on-demand".

 

This is ideal for recommendation systems: think of Netflix and how it provides recommendations based on programs you have watched in the past.

CONS:

Need to store the entire training dataset (cannot model data to reduce dimensionality).

Training==evaluation => there is no possibility to frontload computational costs

Evaluation on demand, no global optimization - doesn’t learn a discriminative function from the training data but “memorizes” the training dataset instead.

data science for (physical) scientists VII

By federica bianco

data science for (physical) scientists VII

MCMC

  • 141