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arXiv · 2110.06163

Finding Relevant Points for Nearest-Neighbor Classification

David Eppstein
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Abstract

In nearest-neighbor classification problems, a set of $d$-dimensional training points are given, each with a known classification, and are used to infer unknown classifications of other points by using the same classification as the nearest training point. A training point is relevant if its omission from the training set would change the outcome of some of these inferences. We provide a simple algorithm for thinning a training set down to its subset of relevant points, using as subroutines algorithms for finding the minimum spanning tree of a set of points and for finding the extreme points (convex hull vertices) of a set of points. The time bounds for our algorithm, in any constant dimension $d\ge 3$, improve on a previous algorithm for the same problem by Clarkson (FOCS 1994).

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David Eppstein. 2021-10-12. Finding Relevant Points for Nearest-Neighbor Classification. https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.06163

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