Loss functions for classification: Difference between revisions

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[[File:BayesConsistentLosses2.jpg|thumb|Bayes consistent loss functions: Zero-one loss (gray), Savage loss (green), Logistic loss (orange), Exponential loss (purple), Tangent loss (brown), Square loss (blue)]]

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In [[machine learning]] and [[mathematical optimization]], '''loss functions for classification''' are computationally feasible [[loss functions]] representing the price paid for inaccuracy of predictions in [[statistical classification|classification problem]]s (problems of identifying which category a particular observation belongs to).<ref name="mit">{{Cite journal | last1 = Rosasco | first1 = L. | last2 = De Vito | first2 = E. D. | last3 = Caponnetto | first3 = A. | last4 = Piana | first4 = M. | last5 = Verri | first5 = A. | url = http://web.mit.edu/lrosasco/www/publications/loss.pdf| title = Are Loss Functions All the Same? | doi = 10.1162/089976604773135104 | journal = Neural Computation | volume = 16 | issue = 5 | pages = 1063–1076 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15070510| citeseerx = 10.1.1.109.6786 | s2cid = 11845688 }}</ref> Given <math>\mathcal{X}</math> as the space of all possible inputs (usually <math>\mathcal{X} \subset \mathbb{R}^d</math>), and <math>\mathcal{Y} = \{ -1,1 \}</math> as the set of labels (possible outputs), a typical goal of classification algorithms is to find a function <math>f: \mathcal{X} \to \mathcal{Y}</math> which best predicts a label <math>y</math> for a given input <math>\vec{x}</math>.<ref name="penn">{{Citation | last= Shen | first= Yi | title= Loss Functions For Binary Classification and Class Probability Estimation | publisher= University of Pennsylvania | year= 2005 | url= http://stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~buja/PAPERS/yi-shen-dissertation.pdf | access-date= 6 December 2014}}</ref> However, because of incomplete information, noise in the measurement, or probabilistic components in the underlying process, it is possible for the same <math>\vec{x}</math> to generate different <math>y</math>.<ref name="mitlec">{{Citation | last1= Rosasco | first1= Lorenzo | last2= Poggio | first2= Tomaso | title= A Regularization Tour of Machine Learning | series= MIT-9.520 Lectures Notes | volume= Manuscript | year= 2014}}</ref> As a result, the goal of the learning problem is to minimize expected loss (also known as the risk), defined as