An improved online learning algorithm for general fuzzy min-max neural network

An improved online learning algorithm for general fuzzy min-max neural network Thanh Tung Khuat Advanced Analytics Institute University of T echnology Sydney Sydney, Australia thanhtung.khuat@student.uts.edu.au Abstract --This paper proposes an improved version of the current online learning algorithm for a general fuzzy min-max neural network (GFMM) to tackle existing issues concerning expansion and contraction steps as well as the way of dealing with unseen data located on decision boundaries. These drawbacks lower its classification performance, so an improved algorithm is proposed in this study to address the above limitations. The proposed approach does not use the contraction process for overlapping hyperboxes, which is more likely to increase the error rate as shown in the literature. The empirical results indicated the improvement in the classification accuracy and stability of the proposed method compared to the original version and other fuzzy min-max classifiers. In order to reduce the sensitivity to the training samples presentation order of this new online learning algorithm, a simple ensemble method is also proposed. I NTRODUCTION Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are one of the most widely used methods for dealing with classification problems as well as real-world applications [1]. However, the main disadvantage of the original ANNs is that they do not have the capability of giving explanations of their predictive results to humans explicitly. This drawback restricts the widespread use of the ANNs for critical domains such as healthcare and criminal justice [2]. In a recent study, Rudin [2] has highlighted that there is a high demand for interpretable models to substitute black-box models in assisting decision-makers in areas with the requirement of high safety and trust.