State Jensen's inequality and give an ML example.
hardAnswer
- For a convex function g: E[g(X)] ≥ g(E[X]).
- Concave: E[g(X)] ≤ g(E[X]).
- Consequence: ≥ → variance is non-negative.
- In ML: (1) log-likelihood is concave — Jensen bounds expected log-likelihood ≤ log of expected likelihood; foundation of the EM algorithm's E-step.
- (2) ≤ mean — used in ensembling analyses.
- (3) Explains why you can't just average logs then exponentiate to recover a mean.
Check yourself — multiple choice
- Wrong direction
- Convex g: E[g(X)] ≥ g(E[X]); concave: opposite; foundation of EM E-step, ensembling analysis
- Only for linear g
- Not useful
Jensen: E[g(X)] ≥ g(E[X]) for convex g; foundation of EM.
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