geodesic space
Fréchet Geodesic Boosting
Zhou, Yidong, Iao, Su I, Müller, Hans-Georg
Gradient boosting has become a cornerstone of machine learning, enabling base learners such as decision trees to achieve exceptional predictive performance. While existing algorithms primarily handle scalar or Euclidean outputs, increasingly prevalent complex-structured data, such as distributions, networks, and manifold-valued outputs, present challenges for traditional methods. Such non-Euclidean data lack algebraic structures such as addition, subtraction, or scalar multiplication required by standard gradient boosting frameworks. To address these challenges, we introduce Fréchet geodesic boosting (FGBoost), a novel approach tailored for outputs residing in geodesic metric spaces. FGBoost leverages geodesics as proxies for residuals and constructs ensembles in a way that respects the intrinsic geometry of the output space. Through theoretical analysis, extensive simulations, and real-world applications, we demonstrate the strong performance and adaptability of FGBoost, showcasing its potential for modeling complex data.
Finite sample bounds for barycenter estimation in geodesic spaces
Brunel, Victor-Emmanuel, Serres, Jordan
We study the problem of estimating the barycenter of a distribution given i.i.d. data in a geodesic space. Assuming an upper curvature bound in Alexandrov's sense and a support condition ensuring the strong geodesic convexity of the barycenter problem, we establish finite-sample error bounds in expectation and with high probability. Our results generalize Hoeffding- and Bernstein-type concentration inequalities from Euclidean to geodesic spaces. Building on these concentration inequalities, we derive statistical guarantees for two efficient algorithms for the computation of barycenters.
Online learning with exponential weights in metric spaces
The problem of online convex optimization (Cesa-Bianchi and Lugosi, 2006, Shalev-Shwartz, 2012, Hazan, 2016) has become a strandard model of online learning. Its simple and flexible formulation as a repeated game, devoid of distributional assumptions on the data, has proven effective in framing theoretically a number of online prediction tasks including online recommendation systems, online portfolio selection or network routing problems. Traditionally studied in the context of Euclidean spaces, less seems to be known when the decision space is a more general metric space, with potentially no linear structure. In this paper, we extend the analysis of the exponentially weighted average (ewa) forecaster to some geodesic metric spaces. Motivations for this level of generality arise, for example, when the decision space is a smooth manifold. Such a scenario is routinely encountered in directional or shape statistics (Mardia, 1999) where observations take values in spheres, projective spaces or shape spaces.
The exponentially weighted average forecaster in geodesic spaces of non-positive curvature
The problem of prediction with expert advice [ Cesa-Bianchi and Lugosi, 2006 ] is a by now standard model of online learning. Traditionally studied for outcom es taking values in a vector space, less seems to be known when the outcome space is a more general metr ic space. This paper partly addresses the problem by focusing on the case of NPC spaces, i .e., geodesic metric spaces with non-positive curvature in the sense of Alexandrov. The class of NPC spaces includes many metric spaces of partic ular interest in the data sciences. Apart from Hilbert spaces, interesting examples are hyperb olic spaces [ Nickel and Kiela, 2017 ], the space of real symmetric positive-definite matrices with Log -Euclidean [ Arsigny et al., 2007 ] or Log-Cholesky [ Lin, 2019 ] Riemannian metrics and more generally all complete and sim ply connected Riemannian manifolds with non-positive sectional curvatu re.
Recovering metric from full ordinal information
Given a geodesic space (E, d), we show that full ordinal knowledge on the metric d-i.e. knowledge of the function D d : (w, x, y, z) $\rightarrow$ 1 d(w,x)$\le$d(y,z) , determines uniquely-up to a constant factor-the metric d. For a subspace En of n points of E, converging in Hausdorff distance to E, we construct a metric dn on En, based only on the knowledge of D d on En and establish a sharp upper bound of the Gromov-Hausdorff distance between (En, dn) and (E, d).
Asymptotic Behavior of Mean Partitions in Consensus Clustering
Although consistency is a minimum requirement of any estimator, little is known about consistency of the mean partition approach in consensus clustering. This contribution studies the asymptotic behavior of mean partitions. We show that under normal assumptions, the mean partition approach is consistent and asymptotic normal. To derive both results, we represent partitions as points of some geometric space, called orbit space. Then we draw on results from the theory of Fr\'echet means and stochastic programming. The asymptotic properties hold for continuous extensions of standard cluster criteria (indices). The results justify consensus clustering using finite but sufficiently large sample sizes. Furthermore, the orbit space framework provides a mathematical foundation for studying further statistical, geometrical, and analytical properties of sets of partitions.