Topological Grammars for Data Approximation
A. N. Gorban, N. R. Sumner, A. Y. Zinovyev
Code Available — Be the first to reproduce this paper.
ReproduceCode
Abstract
A method of topological grammars is proposed for multidimensional data approximation. For data with complex topology we define a principal cubic complex of low dimension and given complexity that gives the best approximation for the dataset. This complex is a generalization of linear and non-linear principal manifolds and includes them as particular cases. The problem of optimal principal complex construction is transformed into a series of minimization problems for quadratic functionals. These quadratic functionals have a physically transparent interpretation in terms of elastic energy. For the energy computation, the whole complex is represented as a system of nodes and springs. Topologically, the principal complex is a product of one-dimensional continuums (represented by graphs), and the grammars describe how these continuums transform during the process of optimal complex construction. This factorization of the whole process onto one-dimensional transformations using minimization of quadratic energy functionals allow us to construct efficient algorithms.