Definition
A factor graph is a bipartite graph representing the factorization of a function. Given a factorization of a function ,
where, the corresponding factor graph consists of variable vertices, factor vertices, and edges . The edges depend on the factorization as follows: there is an undirected edge between factor vertex and variable vertex when . The function is tacitly assumed to be real-valued: .
Factor graphs can be combined with message passing algorithms to efficiently compute certain characteristics of the function, such as the marginal distributions.
Read more about this topic: Factor Graph
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“Mothers often are too easily intimidated by their children’s negative reactions...When the child cries or is unhappy, the mother reads this as meaning that she is a failure. This is why it is so important for a mother to know...that the process of growing up involves by definition things that her child is not going to like. Her job is not to create a bed of roses, but to help him learn how to pick his way through the thorns.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
“Scientific method is the way to truth, but it affords, even in
principle, no unique definition of truth. Any so-called pragmatic
definition of truth is doomed to failure equally.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)