English

Approximating the Partition Function by Deleting and then Correcting for Model Edges

Machine Learning 2012-06-18 v1 Machine Learning

Abstract

We propose an approach for approximating the partition function which is based on two steps: (1) computing the partition function of a simplified model which is obtained by deleting model edges, and (2) rectifying the result by applying an edge-by-edge correction. The approach leads to an intuitive framework in which one can trade-off the quality of an approximation with the complexity of computing it. It also includes the Bethe free energy approximation as a degenerate case. We develop the approach theoretically in this paper and provide a number of empirical results that reveal its practical utility.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1206.3241,
  title  = {Approximating the Partition Function by Deleting and then Correcting for Model Edges},
  author = {Arthur Choi and Adnan Darwiche},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.3241},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

Appears in Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI2008)

R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:19:32.589Z