A comparison of automatic histogram constructions

Laurie Davies; Ursula Gather; Dan Nordman; Henrike Weinert

ESAIM: Probability and Statistics (2009)

  • Volume: 13, page 181-196
  • ISSN: 1292-8100

Abstract

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Even for a well-trained statistician the construction of a histogram for a given real-valued data set is a difficult problem. It is even more difficult to construct a fully automatic procedure which specifies the number and widths of the bins in a satisfactory manner for a wide range of data sets. In this paper we compare several histogram construction procedures by means of a simulation study. The study includes plug-in methods, cross-validation, penalized maximum likelihood and the taut string procedure. Their performance on different test beds is measured by their ability to identify the peaks of an underlying density as well as by Hellinger distance.

How to cite

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Davies, Laurie, et al. "A comparison of automatic histogram constructions." ESAIM: Probability and Statistics 13 (2009): 181-196. <http://eudml.org/doc/250660>.

@article{Davies2009,
abstract = { Even for a well-trained statistician the construction of a histogram for a given real-valued data set is a difficult problem. It is even more difficult to construct a fully automatic procedure which specifies the number and widths of the bins in a satisfactory manner for a wide range of data sets. In this paper we compare several histogram construction procedures by means of a simulation study. The study includes plug-in methods, cross-validation, penalized maximum likelihood and the taut string procedure. Their performance on different test beds is measured by their ability to identify the peaks of an underlying density as well as by Hellinger distance. },
author = {Davies, Laurie, Gather, Ursula, Nordman, Dan, Weinert, Henrike},
journal = {ESAIM: Probability and Statistics},
keywords = {Regular histogram; model selection; penalized likelihood; taut string; regular histogram; penalized likelihood},
language = {eng},
month = {6},
pages = {181-196},
publisher = {EDP Sciences},
title = {A comparison of automatic histogram constructions},
url = {http://eudml.org/doc/250660},
volume = {13},
year = {2009},
}

TY - JOUR
AU - Davies, Laurie
AU - Gather, Ursula
AU - Nordman, Dan
AU - Weinert, Henrike
TI - A comparison of automatic histogram constructions
JO - ESAIM: Probability and Statistics
DA - 2009/6//
PB - EDP Sciences
VL - 13
SP - 181
EP - 196
AB - Even for a well-trained statistician the construction of a histogram for a given real-valued data set is a difficult problem. It is even more difficult to construct a fully automatic procedure which specifies the number and widths of the bins in a satisfactory manner for a wide range of data sets. In this paper we compare several histogram construction procedures by means of a simulation study. The study includes plug-in methods, cross-validation, penalized maximum likelihood and the taut string procedure. Their performance on different test beds is measured by their ability to identify the peaks of an underlying density as well as by Hellinger distance.
LA - eng
KW - Regular histogram; model selection; penalized likelihood; taut string; regular histogram; penalized likelihood
UR - http://eudml.org/doc/250660
ER -

References

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