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In probability theory, a telescoping Markov chain (TMC) is a vector-valued stochastic process that satisfies a Markov property and admits a hierarchical format through a network of transition matrices with cascading dependence.
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set of axioms. Typically these axioms formalise probability in terms of a probability space, which assigns a measure taking values between 0 and 1, termed the probability measure, to a set of outcomes called the sample space. Any specified subset of these outcomes is called an event.
In probability theory and related fields, a stochastic or random process is a mathematical object usually defined as a collection of random variables. Historically, the random variables were associated with or indexed by a set of numbers, usually viewed as points in time, giving the interpretation of a stochastic process representing numerical values of some system randomly changing over time, such as the growth of a bacterial population, an electrical current fluctuating due to thermal noise, or the movement of a gas molecule. Stochastic processes are widely used as mathematical models of systems and phenomena that appear to vary in a random manner. They have applications in many disciplines including sciences such as biology, chemistry, ecology, neuroscience, and physics as well as technology and engineering fields such as image processing, signal processing, information theory, computer science, cryptography and telecommunications. Furthermore, seemingly random changes in financial markets have motivated the extensive use of stochastic processes in finance.
In probability theory and statistics, the term Markov property refers to the memoryless property of a stochastic process. It is named after the Russian mathematician Andrey Markov.
For any consider the set of spaces . The hierarchical process defined in the product-space
is said to be a TMC if there is a set of transition probability kernels such that
where and
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In statistics, a likelihood ratio test is a statistical test used for comparing the goodness of fit of two statistical models — a null model against an alternative model. The test is based on the likelihood ratio, which expresses how many times more likely the data are under one model than the other. This likelihood ratio, or equivalently its logarithm, can then be used to compute a p-value, or compared to a critical value to decide whether to reject the null model.
In machine learning, support-vector machines are supervised learning models with associated learning algorithms that analyze data used for classification and regression analysis. Given a set of training examples, each marked as belonging to one or the other of two categories, an SVM training algorithm builds a model that assigns new examples to one category or the other, making it a non-probabilistic binary linear classifier. An SVM model is a representation of the examples as points in space, mapped so that the examples of the separate categories are divided by a clear gap that is as wide as possible. New examples are then mapped into that same space and predicted to belong to a category based on which side of the gap they fall.
In statistics, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a method of estimating the parameters of a statistical model, given observations. The method obtains the parameter estimates by finding the parameter values that maximize the likelihood function. The estimates are called maximum likelihood estimates, which is also abbreviated as MLE.
In mathematical optimization, the method of Lagrange multipliers is a strategy for finding the local maxima and minima of a function subject to equality constraints. The great advantage of this method is that it allows the optimization to be solved without explicit parameterization in terms of the constraints. As a result, the method of Lagrange multipliers is widely used to solve challenging constrained optimization problems.
In statistics and information theory, a maximum entropy probability distribution has entropy that is at least as great as that of all other members of a specified class of probability distributions. According to the principle of maximum entropy, if nothing is known about a distribution except that it belongs to a certain class, then the distribution with the largest entropy should be chosen as the least-informative default. The motivation is twofold: first, maximizing entropy minimizes the amount of prior information built into the distribution; second, many physical systems tend to move towards maximal entropy configurations over time.
In probability theory the hypoexponential distribution or the generalized Erlang distribution is a continuous distribution, that has found use in the same fields as the Erlang distribution, such as queueing theory, teletraffic engineering and more generally in stochastic processes. It is called the hypoexponetial distribution as it has a coefficient of variation less than one, compared to the hyper-exponential distribution which has coefficient of variation greater than one and the exponential distribution which has coefficient of variation of one.
In Bayesian probability, the Jeffreys prior, named after Sir Harold Jeffreys, is a non-informative (objective) prior distribution for a parameter space; it is proportional to the square root of the determinant of the Fisher information matrix:
In statistics and probability theory, a point process or point field is a collection of mathematical points randomly located on some underlying mathematical space such as the real line, the Cartesian plane, or more abstract spaces. Point processes can be used as mathematical models of phenomena or objects representable as points in some type of space.
In statistics, Poisson regression is a generalized linear model form of regression analysis used to model count data and contingency tables. Poisson regression assumes the response variable Y has a Poisson distribution, and assumes the logarithm of its expected value can be modeled by a linear combination of unknown parameters. A Poisson regression model is sometimes known as a log-linear model, especially when used to model contingency tables.
In statistics, a parametric model or parametric family or finite-dimensional model is a family of distributions that can be described using a finite number of parameters. These parameters are usually collected together to form a single k-dimensional parameter vector θ =.
In mathematics, the Gibbs measure, named after Josiah Willard Gibbs, is a probability measure frequently seen in many problems of probability theory and statistical mechanics. It is a generalization of the canonical ensemble to infinite systems. The canonical ensemble gives the probability of the system X being in state x as
In mathematics, a π-system on a set Ω is a collection P of certain subsets of Ω, such that
In operator theory, a branch of mathematics, a positive-definite kernel is a generalization of a positive-definite function or a positive-definite matrix. It was first introduced by James Mercer in the early 20th century, in the context of solving integral operator equations. Since then positive definite functions and their various analogues and generalizations have arisen in diverse parts of mathematics. They occur naturally in Fourier analysis, probability theory, operator theory, complex function-theory, moment problems, integral equations, boundary-value problems for partial differential equations, machine learning, embedding problem, information theory, and other areas.
Starting with a sample observed from a random variable X having a given distribution law with a non-set parameter, a parametric inference problem consists of computing suitable values – call them estimates – of this parameter precisely on the basis of the sample. An estimate is suitable if replacing it with the unknown parameter does not cause major damage in next computations. In algorithmic inference, suitability of an estimate reads in terms of compatibility with the observed sample.
In probability theory, a Markov kernel is a map that plays the role, in the general theory of Markov processes, that the transition matrix does in the theory of Markov processes with a finite state space.
In mathematics, particularly linear algebra, the Schur–Horn theorem, named after Issai Schur and Alfred Horn, characterizes the diagonal of a Hermitian matrix with given eigenvalues. It has inspired investigations and substantial generalizations in the setting of symplectic geometry. A few important generalizations are Kostant's convexity theorem, Atiyah–Guillemin–Sternberg convexity theorem, Kirwan convexity theorem.
In mathematics, a determinantal point process is a stochastic point process, the probability distribution of which is characterized as a determinant of some function. Such processes arise as important tools in random matrix theory, combinatorics, physics, and wireless network modeling.
For certain applications in linear algebra, it is useful to know properties of the probability distribution of the largest eigenvalue of a finite sum of random matrices. Suppose is a finite sequence of random matrices. Analogous to the well-known Chernoff bound for sums of scalars, a bound on the following is sought for a given parameter t:
In mathematics, the Poisson boundary is a measure space associated to a random walk. It is an object designed to encode the asymptotic behaviour of the random walk, i.e. how trajectories diverge when the number of steps goes to infinity. Despite being called a boundary it is in general a purely measure-theoretical object and not a boundary in the topological sense. However, in the case where the random walk is on a topological space the Poisson boundary can be related to the Martin boundary which is an analytic construction yielding a genuine topological boundary. Both boundaries are related to harmonic functions on the space via generalisations of the Poisson formula.
Pure inductive logic (PIL) is the area of mathematical logic concerned with the philosophical and mathematical foundations of probabilistic inductive reasoning. It combines classical predicate logic and probability theory. Probability values are assigned to sentences of a first order relational language to represent degrees of belief that should be held by a rational agent. Conditional probability values represent degrees of belief based on the assumption of some received evidence.