Towards Continuous-Time Approximations for Stochastic Gradient Descent without Replacement

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1. Verfasser: Perko, Stefan
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Perko, Stefan
author_facet Perko, Stefan
contents Gradient optimization algorithms using epochs, that is those based on stochastic gradient descent without replacement (SGDo), are predominantly used to train machine learning models in practice. However, the mathematical theory of SGDo and related algorithms remain underexplored compared to their "with replacement" and "one-pass" counterparts. In this article, we propose a stochastic, continuous-time approximation to SGDo with additive noise based on a Young differential equation driven by a stochastic process we call an "epoched Brownian motion". We show its usefulness by proving the almost sure convergence of the continuous-time approximation for strongly convex objectives and learning rate schedules of the form $u_t = \frac{1}{(1+t)^β}, β\in (0,1)$. Moreover, we compute an upper bound on the asymptotic rate of almost sure convergence, which is as good or better than previous results for SGDo.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_04703
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards Continuous-Time Approximations for Stochastic Gradient Descent without Replacement
Perko, Stefan
Machine Learning
Probability
Gradient optimization algorithms using epochs, that is those based on stochastic gradient descent without replacement (SGDo), are predominantly used to train machine learning models in practice. However, the mathematical theory of SGDo and related algorithms remain underexplored compared to their "with replacement" and "one-pass" counterparts. In this article, we propose a stochastic, continuous-time approximation to SGDo with additive noise based on a Young differential equation driven by a stochastic process we call an "epoched Brownian motion". We show its usefulness by proving the almost sure convergence of the continuous-time approximation for strongly convex objectives and learning rate schedules of the form $u_t = \frac{1}{(1+t)^β}, β\in (0,1)$. Moreover, we compute an upper bound on the asymptotic rate of almost sure convergence, which is as good or better than previous results for SGDo.
title Towards Continuous-Time Approximations for Stochastic Gradient Descent without Replacement
topic Machine Learning
Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.04703