1
$\begingroup$

Let's say that there is a function $r$

$r_n = r(\tau_n)$,

where $n$ denotes a so-called time-step of a system with an evolving state. Both $\rho$ and $\tau$ should equally influence $r$, and should therefore be scaled. The problem is, the sequence $(\tau_1, \tau_2, \dots, \tau_n)$ grows in time because $n$ grows.

How to perform a running standardization of $(\tau_1, \tau_2, \dots, \tau_n)$. Running mean is relatively simple to express:

$\text{mean}(\tau)_{n+1} = \frac{1}{n+1}\left[\tau_{n+1} + N \text{mean}(\tau)_n\right]$

where $\text{mean}(\tau)_1 = \tau_1$.

The standardization requires

$\tilde{\tau}_n = \dfrac{\tau_n - \text{mean}(\tau)_n}{\sigma(\tau)_n}$

where

$\sigma(\tau)_n = \sqrt{\dfrac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^{n}[\tau_i - \text{mean}(\tau)_n]}$ (1)

is the standard deviation of $(\tau_1, \tau_2, \dots, \tau_n)$.

Question: is there an expression for a running standard deviation? Online I've only found links on stack overflow and Matlab functions, but I am not sure which algorithm is best suited for feature scaling. By running (moving) I mean not having to store $(\tau_1, \tau_2, \dots , \tau_n)$ to calculate (1), instead update it incrementally.

$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

1
$\begingroup$

I think you want $$S_{n}=S_{n−1}+ (x_{n}−μ_{n−1})(x_{n}−μ_{n})$$ where S, x and μ are respectively the variance, value and mean.

See https://fanf2.user.srcf.net/hermes/doc/antiforgery/stats.pdf for explanation and derivation.

$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.