Random irregular histograms

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Simensen, Oskar Høgberg, Christensen, Dennis, Hjort, Nils Lid
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Simensen, Oskar Høgberg
Christensen, Dennis
Hjort, Nils Lid
author_facet Simensen, Oskar Høgberg
Christensen, Dennis
Hjort, Nils Lid
contents We propose a new method of histogram construction, providing a fully Bayesian approach to irregular histograms. Our procedure applies Bayesian model selection to a piecewise constant model of the underlying distribution, resulting in a method that selects both the number of bins as well as their location based on the data in a fully automatic fashion. We show that the histogram estimate is consistent with respect to the Hellinger metric under mild regularity conditions, and that it attains a convergence rate equal to the minimax rate (up to a logarithmic factor) for Hölder continuous densities. Simulation studies indicate that the new method performs comparably to other histogram procedures, both for minimizing the estimation error and for identifying modes. A software implementation is included as supplementary material.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_22034
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Random irregular histograms
Simensen, Oskar Høgberg
Christensen, Dennis
Hjort, Nils Lid
Methodology
Statistics Theory
We propose a new method of histogram construction, providing a fully Bayesian approach to irregular histograms. Our procedure applies Bayesian model selection to a piecewise constant model of the underlying distribution, resulting in a method that selects both the number of bins as well as their location based on the data in a fully automatic fashion. We show that the histogram estimate is consistent with respect to the Hellinger metric under mild regularity conditions, and that it attains a convergence rate equal to the minimax rate (up to a logarithmic factor) for Hölder continuous densities. Simulation studies indicate that the new method performs comparably to other histogram procedures, both for minimizing the estimation error and for identifying modes. A software implementation is included as supplementary material.
title Random irregular histograms
topic Methodology
Statistics Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.22034