diff --git a/content/blog/intro-dempster-shafer-possibility.md b/content/blog/intro-dempster-shafer-possibility.md deleted file mode 100644 index 6edf5bc..0000000 --- a/content/blog/intro-dempster-shafer-possibility.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,120 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: "Introduction to Dempster-Shafer Theory" -date: 2024-10-29T12:38:21-04:00 -draft: false -tags: [] -math: true -medium_enabled: false ---- - -Imagine sitting by a tree full of birds. You know the tree only has a Yellow Rumped Warbler ($w$), a Northern Cardinal ($c$), and an American Goldfinch ($g$). These birds are respectful in that they don't call at the same time. - -You make the following observations of bird calls: -$$ -obs = w, w, c, g, g, w -$$ -What's the probability that we hear a Warbler next assuming the calls are independent from each other? -$$ -count_w = 3, total = 6, P(w) = \frac{3}{6} = 0.5 -$$ -This example assumes that we're bird call experts and are able to uniquely determine each bird call. What happens if our observations are *imprecise*? - -## Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) - -DST, otherwise known as belief functions theory or the theory of evidence, looks at what happens if we allow each observation to be a disjunction ($\vee$)? -$$ -obs = w \vee c \vee g, c, w \vee c, w \vee g -$$ -There can be many reasons for this. Maybe our hearing isn't so good. There's additional noise around you disrupting your sensing. - -Formally, let us define $\Omega$ to be our event space. In this example, this is the set of possible bird calls. -$$ -\Omega = \\{w, c, g\\} -$$ -**The mass function** $m: A \rightarrow [0, 1], \forall A \subseteq \Omega$ assigns a value between 0 and 1 to every possible subset of our event space. The set $\\{w, g\\}$ represents the observation $w \vee g$. - -An important property is that the sum of all the masses are equal to 1. -$$ -\sum_{A \subseteq \Omega} m(A) = 1 -$$ -In order to derive this mass function, we can normalize our observations from earlier. -$$ -m(\\{w, c, g\\}) = \frac{1}{4}, m(\\{c\\}) = \frac{1}{4}, m(\\{w, c\\}) = \frac{1}{4}, m(\\{w, g\\}) = \frac{1}{4} -$$ -We assign the value $0$ to all other subsets of $\Omega$. By definition, $m(\\{\\}) = 0$. - -**The plausibility measure** for a disjunctive set $A$ is the sum of all the mass values of the subets of $\Omega$ that intersect with $A$. -$$ -Pl(A) = \sum_{B \cap A \ne \emptyset}{m(B)} -$$ -In our example, -$$ -\begin{align*} -Pl(\\{w\\}) &= m(\\{w, c, g\\}) + m(\\{w, c\\}) + m(\\{w,g\\}) + m(\\{w\\}) \\\\ - &= \frac{3}{4} -\end{align*} -$$ -**The necessity measure** is more restrictive in that we only look at the summation of the masses of the subsets of $A$. -$$ -Nec(A) = \sum_{B \subseteq A}{m(B)} -$$ -Consider an arbitrary event $a \in \Omega$. Then, -$$ -\begin{align*} -Nec(\\{a\\}) &= m(\\{a\\}) + m(\\{\\}) \\\\ - &= m(\\{a\\}) -\end{align*} -$$ -Therefore in our example, -$$ -Nec(\\{w\\}) = 0, Nec(\\{c\\}) = \frac{1}{4}, Nec(\\{g\\}) = 0 -$$ -Another example, -$$ -\begin{align*} -Nec(\\{w, c\\}) &= m(\\{w, c\\}) + m(\\{c\\}) + m(\\{w\\}) + m(\\{\\}) \\\\ - &= \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{4} + 0 + 0 \\\ - &= 0.5 -\end{align*} -$$ -**The probability measure** is bounded by the necessity and plausibility measures. - -For a disjunctive set $A$, -$$ -Nec(A) \le P(A) \le Pl(A) -$$ -Extending probability to a range of values gives us a way to model *ignorance*. We say an agent is completely ignorant if $|\Omega| > 1$ and $m(\Omega) = 1$. - -Consider a completely ignorant agent where $\Omega = \\{w, c, g\\}$. - -Then, -$$ -\begin{align*} -Nec(\\{w\\}) \le P(\\{w\\}) &\le Pl(\\{w\\}) \\\\ -m(\\{w\\}) \le P(\\{w\\}) &\le m(\\{w\\}) + m(\\{w, c\\}) + m(\\{w, g\\}) + m(\\{w, c, g\\}) \\\\ -0 \le P(\\{w\\}) &\le 1 -\end{align*} -$$ -Probability theory is a subset of Dempster-Shafer theory. In order to see this, let us look at an example of observations where there is no disjunction. -$$ -obs = w, w, c, g, g, w -$$ -Normalize our observations to derive the mass function: -$$ -m(\\{w\\}) = \frac{1}{2}, m(\\{c\\}) = \frac{1}{6}, m(\\{g\\}) = \frac{1}{3} -$$ -The mass function in this example is $0$ for every non-singleton subset of $\Omega$. - -What is the probability range for $w$? -$$ -\begin{align*} -Nec(\\{w\\}) \le P(\\{w\\}) &\le Pl(\\{w\\}) \\\\ -m(\\{w\\}) \le P(\\{w\\}) &\le m(\\{w\\}) + m(\\{w, g\\}) + m(\\{w, c\\}) + m(\\{w, c, g\\}) \\\\ -\frac{1}{2} \le P(\\{w\\}) &\le \frac{1}{2} + 0 + 0 + 0 -\end{align*} -$$ -Therefore, $P(w) = \frac{1}{2}$ as expected in probability theory. - -## Conclusion - -Dempster-Shafer theory is an attempt at addressing *imprecise observations* through disjunctive events. It extends probability theory to consider not just a single value, but a range of possible values. This allows the model to decouple uncertainty from *ignorance*. diff --git a/themes/pulp b/themes/pulp index 13ecf4a..31dfeaa 160000 --- a/themes/pulp +++ b/themes/pulp @@ -1 +1 @@ -Subproject commit 13ecf4a4a362cbb8a10ff5260298581eb1fa6c99 +Subproject commit 31dfeaaa0b5654a419b75c7f694aa99b0e36e0ae