Distributed Learning with Random Features

Distributed learning and random projections are the most common techniques in large scale nonparametric statistical learning. In this paper, we study the generalization properties of kernel ridge regression using both distributed methods and random features. Theoretical analysis shows the combination remarkably reduces computational cost while preserving the optimal generalization accuracy under standard assumptions. In a benign case, $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{N})$ partitions and $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{N})$ random features are sufficient to achieve $\mathcal{O}(1/N)$ learning rate, where $N$ is the labeled sample size. Further, we derive more refined results by using additional unlabeled data to enlarge the number of partitions and by generating features in a data-dependent way to reduce the number of random features.