Foundations of the Theory of Performance-Based Ranking

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Piérard, Sébastien, Halin, Anaïs, Cioppa, Anthony, Deliège, Adrien, Van Droogenbroeck, Marc
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Piérard, Sébastien
Halin, Anaïs
Cioppa, Anthony
Deliège, Adrien
Van Droogenbroeck, Marc
author_facet Piérard, Sébastien
Halin, Anaïs
Cioppa, Anthony
Deliège, Adrien
Van Droogenbroeck, Marc
contents Ranking entities such as algorithms, devices, methods, or models based on their performances, while accounting for application-specific preferences, is a challenge. To address this challenge, we establish the foundations of a universal theory for performance-based ranking. First, we introduce a rigorous framework built on top of both the probability and order theories. Our new framework encompasses the elements necessary to (1) manipulate performances as mathematical objects, (2) express which performances are worse than or equivalent to others, (3) model tasks through a variable called satisfaction, (4) consider properties of the evaluation, (5) define scores, and (6) specify application-specific preferences through a variable called importance. On top of this framework, we propose the first axiomatic definition of performance orderings and performance-based rankings. Then, we introduce a universal parametric family of scores, called ranking scores, that can be used to establish rankings satisfying our axioms, while considering application-specific preferences. Finally, we show, in the case of two-class classification, that the family of ranking scores encompasses well-known performance scores, including the accuracy, the true positive rate (recall, sensitivity), the true negative rate (specificity), the positive predictive value (precision), and F1. However, we also show that some other scores commonly used to compare classifiers are unsuitable to derive performance orderings satisfying the axioms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_04227
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Foundations of the Theory of Performance-Based Ranking
Piérard, Sébastien
Halin, Anaïs
Cioppa, Anthony
Deliège, Adrien
Van Droogenbroeck, Marc
Machine Learning
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Performance
Ranking entities such as algorithms, devices, methods, or models based on their performances, while accounting for application-specific preferences, is a challenge. To address this challenge, we establish the foundations of a universal theory for performance-based ranking. First, we introduce a rigorous framework built on top of both the probability and order theories. Our new framework encompasses the elements necessary to (1) manipulate performances as mathematical objects, (2) express which performances are worse than or equivalent to others, (3) model tasks through a variable called satisfaction, (4) consider properties of the evaluation, (5) define scores, and (6) specify application-specific preferences through a variable called importance. On top of this framework, we propose the first axiomatic definition of performance orderings and performance-based rankings. Then, we introduce a universal parametric family of scores, called ranking scores, that can be used to establish rankings satisfying our axioms, while considering application-specific preferences. Finally, we show, in the case of two-class classification, that the family of ranking scores encompasses well-known performance scores, including the accuracy, the true positive rate (recall, sensitivity), the true negative rate (specificity), the positive predictive value (precision), and F1. However, we also show that some other scores commonly used to compare classifiers are unsuitable to derive performance orderings satisfying the axioms.
title Foundations of the Theory of Performance-Based Ranking
topic Machine Learning
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Performance
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.04227