1
$\begingroup$

I have a cross entropy loss function.

$$ L = -{1 \over N} \sum_i {y_i \cdot \log {1 \over {1+e^{-\vec x \cdot \vec w}}} + (1-y_i) \cdot \log (1-{1 \over {1+e^{-\vec x \cdot \vec w}}})} $$

I want to calculate its derivative, aka $ \nabla L = {\partial L \over \partial w}$.

How to do that?

$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

1
$\begingroup$

$$\nabla L = \begin{pmatrix} \frac{\partial L}{\partial w_1} \\ \frac{\partial L}{\partial w_2} \\ \vdots \\ \frac{\partial L}{\partial w_n} \end{pmatrix}$$

This requires computing the derivatives of the terms like

$$\log {1 \over {1+e^{-\vec x \cdot \vec w}}} = \log {1 \over {1+e^{-(x_1 \cdot w_1 + x_2 \cdot w_2 + \, \dots \, + x_n \cdot w_n)}}}$$

where you can use

$$\frac{\partial}{\partial x} \left( \log\frac{1}{1+e^{-(a+bx)}} \right) = \frac{b}{1+e^{(a+bx)}}$$

and

$$\frac{\partial}{\partial x} \left( \log(1-\frac{1}{1+e^{-(a+bx)}} ) \right) = \frac{b}{1-e^{-(a+bx)}}$$


Filling that in you get

$$\frac{\partial}{\partial w_j} L = \frac{\bar{y_i} x_j}{{1+e^{\vec x \cdot \vec w}}} - \frac{(1-\bar{y_i}) x_j }{{1-e^{-\vec x \cdot \vec w}}}$$

and

$$\nabla L = \left( \frac{\bar{y_i}}{{1+e^{\vec x \cdot \vec w}}} - \frac{(1-\bar{y_i}) }{{1-e^{-\vec x \cdot \vec w}}} \right) \vec{x} $$

$\endgroup$

Your Answer

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

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