#!/usr/bin/env python # coding: utf-8 # # Logistic Regression # In[1]: from IPython.display import Image Image('../../../python_for_probability_statistics_and_machine_learning.jpg') # The Bernoulli distribution we studied earlier answers the question of which of # two outcomes ($Y \in \lbrace 0,1 \rbrace$) would be selected with probability, # $p$. # # $$ # \mathbb{P}(Y) = p^Y (1-p)^{ 1-Y } # $$ # # We also know how to solve the corresponding likelihood function for # the maximum likelihood estimate of $p$ given observations of the output, # $\lbrace Y_i \rbrace_{i=1}^n$. However, now we want to include other factors in # our estimate of $p$. For example, suppose we observe not just the outcomes, but # a corresponding continuous variable, $x$. That is, the observed data is now # $\lbrace (x_i,Y_i) \rbrace_{i=1}^n$ How can we incorporate $x$ into our # estimation of $p$? # # The most straightforward idea is to model $p= a x + b$ where $a,b$ are # parameters of a fitted line. However, because $p$ is a probability with value # bounded between zero and one, we need to wrap this estimate in another function # that can map the entire real line into the $[0,1]$ interval. The logistic # (a.k.a. sigmoid) function has this property, # # $$ # \theta(s) = \frac{e^s}{1+e^s} # $$ # # Thus, the new parameterized estimate for $p$ is the following, # # #
# # $$ # \begin{equation} # \hat{p} = \theta(a x+b)= \frac{e^{a x + b}}{1+e^{a x + b}} # \label{eq:prob} \tag{1} # \end{equation} # $$ # # This is usually expressed using the *logit* function, # # $$ # \texttt{logit}(t)= \log \frac{t}{1-t} # $$ # # as, # # $$ # \texttt{logit}(p) = b + a x # $$ # # More continuous variables can be accommodated easily as # # $$ # \texttt{logit}(p) = b + \sum_k a_k x_k # $$ # # This can be further extended beyond the binary case to multiple # target labels. The maximum likelihood estimate of this uses # numerical optimization methods that are implemented in Scikit-learn. # # Let's construct some data to see how this works. In the following, we assign # class labels to a set of randomly scattered points in the two-dimensional # plane, # In[2]: get_ipython().run_line_magic('matplotlib', 'inline') import numpy as np from matplotlib.pylab import subplots v = 0.9 @np.vectorize def gen_y(x): if x<5: return np.random.choice([0,1],p=[v,1-v]) else: return np.random.choice([0,1],p=[1-v,v]) xi = np.sort(np.random.rand(500)*10) yi = gen_y(xi) # **Programming Tip.** # # The `np.vectorize` decorator used in the code above makes it easy to avoid # looping in code that uses Numpy arrays by embedding the looping semantics # inside of the so-decorated function. Note, however, that this does not # necessarily accelerate the wrapped function. It's mainly for convenience. # # # # [Figure](#fig:logreg_001) shows a scatter plot of the data we constructed in # the above code, $\lbrace (x_i,Y_i) \rbrace$. As constructed, it is more # likely that large values of $x$ correspond to $Y=1$. On the other hand, values # of $x \in [4,6]$ of either category are heavily overlapped. This means that $x$ # is not a particularly strong indicator of $Y$ in this region. # [Figure](#fig:logreg_002) shows the fitted logistic regression curve against the # same # data. The points along the curve are the probabilities that each point lies in # either of the two categories. For large values of $x$ the curve is near one, # meaning that the probability that the associated $Y$ value is equal to one. On # the other extreme, small values of $x$ mean that this probability is close to # zero. Because there are only two possible categories, this means that the # probability of $Y=0$ is thereby higher. The region in the middle corresponding # to the middle probabilities reflect the ambiguity between the two catagories # because of the overlap in the data for this region. Thus, logistic regression # cannot make a strong case for one category here. # The following code fits the logistic regression model, # In[3]: fig,ax=subplots() _=ax.plot(xi,yi,'o',color='gray',alpha=.3) _=ax.axis(ymax=1.1,ymin=-0.1) _=ax.set_xlabel(r'$X$',fontsize=22) _=ax.set_ylabel(r'$Y$',fontsize=22) # In[4]: from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression lr = LogisticRegression() lr.fit(np.c_[xi],yi) # In[5]: fig,ax=subplots() xii=np.linspace(0,10,20) _=ax.plot(xii,lr.predict_proba(np.c_[xii])[:,1],'k-',lw=3) _=ax.plot(xi,yi,'o',color='gray',alpha=.3) _=ax.axis(ymax=1.1,ymin=-0.1) _=ax.set_xlabel(r'$x$',fontsize=20) _=ax.set_ylabel(r'$\mathbb{P}(Y)$',fontsize=20) # # #
# #

This scatterplot shows the binary $Y$ variables and the corresponding $x$ # data for each category.

# # # # # # # #
# #

This shows the fitted logistic regression on the data shown in # [Figure](#fig:logreg_001). The points along the curve are the probabilities that # each point lies in either of the two categories.

# # # # # # For a deeper understanding of logistic regression, we need to alter our # notation slightly and once again use our projection methods. More generally we # can rewrite Equation [eq:prob](#eq:prob) as the following, # # #
# # $$ # \begin{equation} # p(\mathbf{x}) = \frac{1}{1+\exp(-\boldsymbol{\beta}^T \mathbf{x})} # \label{eq:probbeta} \tag{2} # \end{equation} # $$ # # where $\boldsymbol{\beta}, \mathbf{x}\in \mathbb{R}^n$. From our # prior work on projection we know that the signed perpendicular distance between # $\mathbf{x}$ and the linear boundary described by $\boldsymbol{\beta}$ is # $\boldsymbol{\beta}^T \mathbf{x}/\Vert\boldsymbol{\beta}\Vert$. This means # that the probability that is assigned to any point in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is a # function of how close that point is to the linear boundary described by the # following equation, # # $$ # \boldsymbol{\beta}^T \mathbf{x} = 0 # $$ # # But there is something subtle hiding here. Note that # for any $\alpha\in\mathbb{R}$, # # $$ # \alpha\boldsymbol{\beta}^T \mathbf{x} = 0 # $$ # # describes the *same* hyperplane. This means that we can multiply # $\boldsymbol{\beta}$ by an arbitrary scalar and still get the same geometry. # However, because of $\exp(-\alpha\boldsymbol{\beta}^T \mathbf{x})$ in Equation # [eq:probbeta](#eq:probbeta), this scaling determines the intensity of the # probability # attributed to $\mathbf{x}$. This is illustrated in [Figure](#fig:logreg_003). # The panel on the left shows two categories (squares/circles) split by the # dotted line that is determined by $\boldsymbol{\beta}^T\mathbf{x}=0$. The # background colors shows the probabilities assigned to points in the plane. The # right panel shows that by scaling with $\alpha$, we can increase the # probabilities of class membership for the given points, given the exact same # geometry. The points near the boundary have lower probabilities because they # could easily be on the opposite side. However, by scaling by $\alpha$, we can # raise those probabilities to any desired level at the cost of driving the # points further from the boundary closer to one. Why is this a problem? By # driving the probabilities arbitrarily using $\alpha$, we can overemphasize the # training set at the cost of out-of-sample data. That is, we may wind up # insisting on emphatic class membership of yet unseen points that are close to # the boundary that otherwise would have more equivocal probabilities (say, near # $1/2$). Once again, this is another manifestation of bias/variance trade-off. # # # #
# #

Scaling can arbitrarily increase the probabilities of points near the # decision boundary.

# # # # # # Regularization is a method that controls this effect by penalizing the size of # $\beta$ as part of its solution. Algorithmically, logistic regression works by # iteratively solving a sequence of weighted least squares problems. Regression # adds a $\Vert\boldsymbol{\beta}\Vert/C$ term to the least squares error. To see # this in action, let's create some data from a logistic regression and see if we # can recover it using Scikit-learn. Let's start with a scatter of points in the # two-dimensional plane, # In[6]: x0,x1=np.random.rand(2,20)*6-3 X = np.c_[x0,x1,x1*0+1] # stack as columns # Note that `X` has a third column of all ones. This is a # trick to allow the corresponding line to be offset from the origin # in the two-dimensional plane. Next, we create a linear boundary # and assign the class probabilities according to proximity to the # boundary. # In[7]: beta = np.array([1,-1,1]) # last coordinate for affine offset prd = X.dot(beta) probs = 1/(1+np.exp(-prd/np.linalg.norm(beta))) c = (prd>0) # boolean array class labels # This establishes the training data. The next block # creates the logistic regression object and fits the data. # In[8]: lr = LogisticRegression() _=lr.fit(X[:,:-1],c) # Note that we have to omit the third dimension because of # how Scikit-learn internally breaks down the components of the # boundary. The resulting code extracts the corresponding # $\boldsymbol{\beta}$ from the `LogisticRegression` object. # In[9]: betah = np.r_[lr.coef_.flat,lr.intercept_] # **Programming Tip.** # # The Numpy `np.r_` object provides a quick way to stack Numpy # arrays horizontally instead of using `np.hstack`. # # # # The resulting boundary is shown in the left panel in # [Figure](#fig:logreg_004). The crosses and triangles represent the two classes # we # created above, along with the separating gray line. The logistic regression # fit produces the dotted black line. The dark circle is the point that logistic # regression categorizes incorrectly. The regularization parameter is $C=1$ by # default. Next, we can change the strength of the regularization parameter as in # the following, # In[10]: lr = LogisticRegression(C=1000) # and the re-fit the data to produce the right panel in # [Figure](#fig:logreg_004). By increasing the regularization # parameter, we essentially nudged the fitting algorithm to # *believe* the data more than the general model. That is, by doing # this we accepted more variance in exchange for better bias. # # # #
# #

The left panel shows the resulting boundary (dashed line) with $C=1$ as the # regularization parameter. The right panel is for $C=1000$. The gray line is the # boundary used to assign the class membership for the synthetic data. The dark # circle is the point that logistic regression categorizes incorrectly.

# # # # # # ## Generalized Linear Models # # Logistic regression is one example of a wider class of generalized linear # models that embed non-linear transformations in the fitting process. Let's back # up and break down logistic regression into smaller parts. As usual, we want to # estimate the conditional expectation $\mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=\mathbf{x})$. For # plain linear regression, we have the following approximation, # # $$ # \mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=\mathbf{x})\approx\boldsymbol{\beta}^T\mathbf{x} # $$ # # For notation sake, we call $r(x):=\mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=\mathbf{x})$ # the response. For logistic regression, because $Y\in\left\{0,1\right\}$, we # have $\mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=\mathbf{x})=\mathbb{P}(Y\vert X=\mathbf{x})$ and the # transformation makes $r(\mathbf{x})$ linear. # # $$ # \begin{align*} # \eta(\mathbf{x}) &= \boldsymbol{\beta}^T\mathbf{x} \\\ # &= \log \frac{r(\mathbf{x})}{1-r(\mathbf{x})} \\\ # &= g(r(\mathbf{x})) # \end{align*} # $$ # # where $g$ is defined as the logistic *link* function. # The $\eta(x)$ function is the linear predictor. Now that we have # transformed the original data space using the logistic function to # create the setting for the linear predictor, why don't we just do # the same thing for the $Y_i$ data? That is, for plain linear # regression, we usually take data, $\left\{X_i,Y_i\right\}$ and # then use it to fit an approximation to $\mathbb{E}(Y\vert X=x)$. # If we are transforming the conditional expectation using the # logarithm, which we are approximating using $Y_i$, then why don't # we correspondingly transform the binary $Y_i$ data? The answer is # that if we did so then we would get the logarithm of zero (i.e., # infinity) or one (i.e., zero), which is not workable. The # alternative is to use a linear Taylor approximation, like we did # earlier with the delta method, to expand the $g$ function around # $r(x)$, as in the following, # # $$ # \begin{align*} # g(Y) &\approx \log\frac{r(x)}{1-r(x)} + \frac{Y-r(x)}{r(x)-r(x)^2} \\\ # &= \eta(x)+ \frac{Y-r(x)}{r(x)-r(x)^2} # \end{align*} # $$ # # The interesting part is the $Y-r(x)$ term, because this is where the # class label data enters the problem. The expectation $\mathbb{E}(Y-r(x)\vert # X)=0$ so we can think of this differential as additive noise that dithers # $\eta(x)$. The variance of $g(Y)$ is the following, # # $$ # \begin{align*} # \mathbb{V}(g(Y)\vert X)&= \mathbb{V}(\eta(x)\vert X)+\frac{1}{(r(x)(1-r(x)))^2} # \mathbb{V}(Y-r(x)\vert X) \\\ # &=\frac{1}{(r(x)(1-r(x)))^2} \mathbb{V}(Y-r(x)\vert X) # \end{align*} # $$ # # Note that $\mathbb{V}(Y\vert X)=r(x)(1-r(x))$ because $Y$ is # a binary variable. Ultimately, this boils down to the following, # # $$ # \mathbb{V}(g(Y)\vert X)=\frac{1}{r(x)(1-r(x))} # $$ # # Note that the variance is a function of $x$, which means it is # *heteroskedastic*, meaning that the iterative minimum-variance-finding # algorithm that computes $\boldsymbol{\beta}$ downplays $x$ where $r(x)\approx # 0$ and $r(x)\approx 1$ because the peak of the variance occurs where # $r(x)\approx 0.5$, which are those equivocal points are close to the boundary. # # # For generalized linear models, the above sequence is the same and consists of # three primary ingredients: the linear predictor ($\eta(x)$), the link function # ($g(x)$), and the *dispersion scale function*, $V_{ds}$ such that # $\mathbb{V}(Y\vert X)=\sigma^2 V_{ds}(r(x))$. For logistic regression, we have # $V_{ds}(r(x))=r(x)(1-r(x))$ and $\sigma^2=1$. Note that absolute knowledge of # $\sigma^2$ is not important because the iterative algorithm needs only a # relative proportional scale. To sum up, the iterative algorithm takes a linear # prediction for $\eta(x_i)$, computes the transformed responses, $g(Y_i)$, # calculates the weights $w_i=\left[(g^\prime(r(x_i))V_{ds}(r(x_i))) # \right]^{-1}$, and then does a weighted linear regression of $g(y_i)$ onto # $x_i$ with the weights $w_i$ to compute the next $\boldsymbol{\beta}$. # More details can be found in the following [[fox2015applied]](#fox2015applied), # [[lindsey1997applying]](#lindsey1997applying), # [[campbell2009generalized]](#campbell2009generalized). # # # # # #