More sensitive tests in DELVE

David J C MacKay

The current test in DELVE, for sum squared error loss, has the unfortunate feature that if a method does really lousily on a few test cases, the posterior standard deviation of its mean loss is increased such that the test is weakened and may well give a null result. By the simple hack of modifying the loss function to sum |\mbox{error}|^{p} with p<2, for example p=0.5 or p=0.1, it seems plausible that the sensitivity of DELVE might be improved.

postscript (Cambridge UK).

postscript (Canada mirror).


David MacKay's: home page, publications. bibtex file.
Canadian mirrors: home page, publications. bibtex file.