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CORR
2008
Springer

Statistical Learning of Arbitrary Computable Classifiers

13 years 4 months ago
Statistical Learning of Arbitrary Computable Classifiers
Statistical learning theory chiefly studies restricted hypothesis classes, particularly those with finite Vapnik-Chervonenkis (VC) dimension. The fundamental quantity of interest is the sample complexity: the number of samples required to learn to a specified level of accuracy. Here we consider learning over the set of all computable labeling functions. Since the VC-dimension is infinite and a priori (uniform) bounds on the number of samples are impossible, we let the learning algorithm decide when it has seen sufficient samples to have learned. We first show that learning in this setting is indeed possible, and develop a learning algorithm. We then show, however, that bounding sample complexity independently of the distribution is impossible. Notably, this impossibility is entirely due to the requirement that the learning algorithm be computable, and not due to the statistical nature of the problem.
David Soloveichik
Added 09 Dec 2010
Updated 09 Dec 2010
Type Journal
Year 2008
Where CORR
Authors David Soloveichik
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