Related papers: Yet Another Analysis of Dice Problems
A well-known result across information theory, machine learning, and statistical physics shows that the maximum entropy distribution under a mean constraint has an exponential form called the Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution. This is used for…
This paper addresses the estimation of parameters of a Bayesian network from incomplete data. The task is usually tackled by running the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm several times in order to obtain a high log-likelihood…
Maximum entropy distributions with discrete support in $m$ dimensions arise in machine learning, statistics, information theory, and theoretical computer science. While structural and computational properties of max-entropy distributions…
The Bayesian approach has proved to be a coherent approach to handle ill posed Inverse problems. However, the Bayesian calculations need either an optimization or an integral calculation. The maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation requires…
Jaynes invented the Brandeis Dice Problem as a simple illustration of the MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy) procedure that he had demonstrated to work so well in Statistical Mechanics. I construct here two alternative solutions to his toy problem.…
The classical problem of maximizing the Shannon entropy of a sum of independent random variables supported on a finite alphabet is considered and settled in the ternary case. Namely, the following theorem is established: if…
Maximum entropy modeling is a flexible and popular framework for formulating statistical models given partial knowledge. In this paper, rather than the traditional method of optimizing over the continuous density directly, we learn a smooth…
The main object of this paper is to show how we can use classical probabilistic methods such as Maximum Entropy (ME), maximum likelihood (ML) and/or Bayesian (BAYES) approaches to do microscopic and macroscopic data fusion. Actually ME can…
A classical longstanding open problem in statistics is finding an explicit expression for the probability measure which maximizes entropy with respect to given constraints. In this paper a solution to this problem is found, using…
Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) can be viewed as an analytic approximation of an intractable likelihood coupled with an elementary simulation step. Such a view, combined with a suitable instrumental prior distribution permits…
We introduce a new concept of approximation applicable to decision problems and functions, inspired by Bayesian probability. From the perspective of a Bayesian reasoner with limited computational resources, the answer to a problem that…
The kinematics and dynamics of deterministic physical systems have been a foundation of our understanding of the world since Galileo and Newton. For real systems, however, uncertainty is largely present via external forces such as friction…
We develop a framework for the operationalization of models and parameters by combining de Finetti's representation theorem with a conditional form of Sanov's theorem. This synthesis, the tilted de Finetti theorem, shows that conditioning…
A solution that is only reliable under favourable conditions is hardly a safe solution. Min Max Optimization is an approach that returns optima that are robust against worst case conditions. We propose algorithms that perform Min Max…
The present work shows that the maximum-entropy method can be applied to a sample of neuronal recordings along two different routes: (1) apply to the sample; or (2) apply to a larger, unsampled neuronal population from which the sample is…
It is shown that a consistent application of Bayesian updating from a prior probability density to a posterior using evidence in the form of expectation constraints leads to exactly the same results as the application of the maximum entropy…
We consider the problem of estimating the population probability distribution given a finite set of multivariate samples, using the maximum entropy approach. In strict keeping with Jaynes' original definition, our precise formulation of the…
The montecarlo method, which is quite commonly used to solve maximum entropy problems in statistical physics, can actually be used to solve inverse problems in a much wider context. The probability distribution which maximizes entropy can…
We will discuss the maximum entropy production (MaxEP) principle based on Jaynes' information theoretical arguments, as was done by Dewar (2003, 2005). With the help of a simple mathematical model of a non-equilibrium system, we will show…
We give a characterization of Maximum Entropy/Minimum Relative Entropy inference by providing two `strong entropy concentration' theorems. These theorems unify and generalize Jaynes' `concentration phenomenon' and Van Campenhout and Cover's…