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In this paper, we study the convergence properties of the Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) method for finding a stationary point of a given objective function $J(\cdot)$. The objective function is not required to be convex. Rather, our…
We provide a first-order oracle complexity lower bound for finding stationary points of min-max optimization problems where the objective function is smooth, nonconvex in the minimization variable, and strongly concave in the maximization…
In this paper, we study the problem of escaping from saddle points in smooth nonconvex optimization problems subject to a convex set $\mathcal{C}$. We propose a generic framework that yields convergence to a second-order stationary point of…
We study private empirical risk minimization (ERM) problem for losses satisfying the $(\gamma,\kappa)$-Kurdyka-{\L}ojasiewicz (KL) condition. The Polyak-{\L}ojasiewicz (PL) condition is a special case of this condition when $\kappa=2$.…
An optimization algorithm for nonsmooth nonconvex constrained optimization problems with upper-C2 objective functions is proposed and analyzed. Upper-C2 is a weakly concave property that exists in difference of convex (DC) functions and…
We provide a comprehensive study of the convergence of the forward-backward algorithm under suitable geometric conditions, such as conditioning or {\L}ojasiewicz properties. These geometrical notions are usually local by nature, and may…
Large-scale sparse precision matrix estimation has attracted wide interest from the statistics community. The convex partial correlation selection method (CONCORD) developed by Khare et al. (2015) has recently been credited with some…
In this paper we present a convergence rate analysis of inexact variants of several randomized iterative methods. Among the methods studied are: stochastic gradient descent, stochastic Newton, stochastic proximal point and stochastic…
Correlation Clustering (CC) is a fundamental unsupervised learning primitive whose strongest LP-based approximation guarantees require $\Theta(n^3)$ triangle inequality constraints and are prohibitive at scale. We initiate the study of…
We present a new technique for efficiently removing almost all short cycles in a graph without unintentionally removing its triangles. Consequently, triangle finding problems do not become easy even in almost $k$-cycle free graphs, for any…
When training neural networks with low-precision computation, rounding errors often cause stagnation or are detrimental to the convergence of the optimizers; in this paper we study the influence of rounding errors on the convergence of the…
We present improved deterministic algorithms for approximating shortest paths in the Congested Clique model of distributed computing. We obtain $poly(\log\log n)$-round algorithms for the following problems in unweighted undirected…
In this paper, we present a new complexity result for the gradient descent method with an appropriately fixed stepsize for minimizing a strongly convex function with locally $\alpha$-H{\"o}lder continuous gradients ($0 < \alpha \leq 1$).…
We obtain an improved finite-sample guarantee on the linear convergence of stochastic gradient descent for smooth and strongly convex objectives, improving from a quadratic dependence on the conditioning $(L/\mu)^2$ (where $L$ is a bound on…
Block coordinate descent is an optimization paradigm that iteratively updates one block of variables at a time, making it quite amenable to big data applications due to its scalability and performance. Its convergence behavior has been…
In this paper, we propose first-order feasible methods for difference-of-convex (DC) programs with smooth inequality and simple geometric constraints. Our strategy for maintaining feasibility of the iterates is based on a "retraction" idea…
We present new policy mirror descent (PMD) methods for solving reinforcement learning (RL) problems with either strongly convex or general convex regularizers. By exploring the structural properties of these overall highly nonconvex…
We propose and analyze a randomized zeroth-order approach based on approximating the exact gradient byfinite differences computed in a set of orthogonal random directions that changes with each iteration. A number ofpreviously proposed…
We derive bounds on the path length $\zeta$ of gradient descent (GD) and gradient flow (GF) curves for various classes of smooth convex and nonconvex functions. Among other results, we prove that: (a) if the iterates are linearly convergent…
In this paper, we provide a unified iteration complexity analysis for a family of general block coordinate descent (BCD) methods, covering popular methods such as the block coordinate gradient descent (BCGD) and the block coordinate…