ML EPS REG

ML_EPS_REG = [real]
Default: ML_EPS_REG = 1E-14 

Description: Initial value for the threshold of the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix in the evidence approximation.

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This threshold is used to determine which eigenvalues $\lambda_{k}$ of the covariance matrix $\mathbf{\Phi}^{\mathrm{T}}\mathbf{\Phi}/\sigma^{2}_{\mathrm{v}}$ are used in the optimization of the regularization parameters $\sigma^{2}_{\mathrm{w}}$ and $\sigma^{2}_{\mathrm{v}}$ determined by the following equations

$\sigma^{2}_{\mathrm{w}}=\frac{|\mathbf{\bar{w}}|^{2}}{\gamma},$

$\sigma^{2}_{\mathrm{v}}=\frac{|\mathbf{T}-\mathbf{\phi}\mathbf{\bar{w}}|^{2}}{M-\gamma},$

$\gamma=\sum\limits_{k=1}^{N_{\mathrm{B}}} \frac{\lambda_{k}}{\lambda_{k}+1/\sigma^{2}_{\mathrm{w}}}$.

All eigenvalues satisfying $\lambda_{i} / \lambda_{\mathrm{max}}$ > ML_EPS_REG are contributing by the above equations.

The smaller the value of ML_EPS_REG the the smaller the error of the fit. But at the same time the effects of overfitting increase. We determined empirically that the default value of 1E-14 is a safe value in most cases.

If at any point in the iterations of the Evidence Approximation of the square of the quadratic norm of errors (eigth column of REGR/REGRF in ML_LOGFILE) gets too big (more than 1.2 times larger than before) then ML_EPS_REG is doubled.

The seventh entry of REGR/REGRF in the ML_LOGFILE shows the ratio of the regularization ($\sigma_{v}^{2}/ \sigma_{w}^{2}$) and the largest eigenvalue. Usually this number is a number with many varying digits. If this number becomes a "well rounded" number (e.g. 1.00000000E-14), it is an indication that the cap for the current ML_EPS_REG is reached. That means that regularization becomes crucial.

Related Tags and Sections

ML_LMLFF, ML_IALGO_LINREG, ML_IREG, ML_SIGV0, ML_SIGW0

Examples that use this tag

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