English

Unified Stochastic Framework for Neural Network Quantization and Pruning

Machine Learning 2025-05-21 v3 Numerical Analysis Numerical Analysis Probability

Abstract

Quantization and pruning are two essential techniques for compressing neural networks, yet they are often treated independently, with limited theoretical analysis connecting them. This paper introduces a unified framework for post-training quantization and pruning using stochastic path-following algorithms. Our approach builds on the Stochastic Path Following Quantization (SPFQ) method, extending its applicability to pruning and low-bit quantization, including challenging 1-bit regimes. By incorporating a scaling parameter and generalizing the stochastic operator, the proposed method achieves robust error correction and yields rigorous theoretical error bounds for both quantization and pruning as well as their combination.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2412.18184,
  title  = {Unified Stochastic Framework for Neural Network Quantization and Pruning},
  author = {Haoyu Zhang and Rayan Saab},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.18184},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

14 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T20:47:44.290Z