tf.distributions.Distribution

Class Distribution

Aliases:

• Class tf.contrib.distributions.Distribution
• Class tf.distributions.Distribution

Defined in tensorflow/python/ops/distributions/distribution.py.

See the guide: Statistical Distributions (contrib) > Base classes

A generic probability distribution base class.

Distribution is a base class for constructing and organizing properties (e.g., mean, variance) of random variables (e.g, Bernoulli, Gaussian).

Subclassing

Subclasses are expected to implement a leading-underscore version of the same-named function. The argument signature should be identical except for the omission of name="...". For example, to enable log_prob(value, name="log_prob") a subclass should implement _log_prob(value).

Subclasses can append to public-level docstrings by providing docstrings for their method specializations. For example:

@util.AppendDocstring("Some other details.")
def _log_prob(self, value):
  ...

would add the string "Some other details." to the log_prob function docstring. This is implemented as a simple decorator to avoid python linter complaining about missing Args/Returns/Raises sections in the partial docstrings.

Broadcasting, batching, and shapes

All distributions support batches of independent distributions of that type. The batch shape is determined by broadcasting together the parameters.

The shape of arguments to __init__, cdf, log_cdf, prob, and log_prob reflect this broadcasting, as does the return value of sample and sample_n.

sample_n_shape = [n] + batch_shape + event_shape, where sample_n_shape is the shape of the Tensor returned from sample_n, n is the number of samples, batch_shape defines how many independent distributions there are, and event_shape defines the shape of samples from each of those independent distributions. Samples are independent along the batch_shape dimensions, but not necessarily so along the event_shape dimensions (depending on the particulars of the underlying distribution).

Using the Uniform distribution as an example:

minval = 3.0
maxval = [[4.0, 6.0],
          [10.0, 12.0]]

# Broadcasting:
# This instance represents 4 Uniform distributions. Each has a lower bound at
# 3.0 as the `minval` parameter was broadcasted to match `maxval`'s shape.
u = Uniform(minval, maxval)

# `event_shape` is `TensorShape([])`.
event_shape = u.event_shape
# `event_shape_t` is a `Tensor` which will evaluate to [].
event_shape_t = u.event_shape_tensor()

# Sampling returns a sample per distribution. `samples` has shape
# [5, 2, 2], which is [n] + batch_shape + event_shape, where n=5,
# batch_shape=[2, 2], and event_shape=[].
samples = u.sample_n(5)

# The broadcasting holds across methods. Here we use `cdf` as an example. The
# same holds for `log_cdf` and the likelihood functions.

# `cum_prob` has shape [2, 2] as the `value` argument was broadcasted to the
# shape of the `Uniform` instance.
cum_prob_broadcast = u.cdf(4.0)

# `cum_prob`'s shape is [2, 2], one per distribution. No broadcasting
# occurred.
cum_prob_per_dist = u.cdf([[4.0, 5.0],
                           [6.0, 7.0]])

# INVALID as the `value` argument is not broadcastable to the distribution's
# shape.
cum_prob_invalid = u.cdf([4.0, 5.0, 6.0])

Shapes

There are three important concepts associated with TensorFlow Distributions shapes: - Event shape describes the shape of a single draw from the distribution; it may be dependent across dimensions. For scalar distributions, the event shape is []. For a 5-dimensional MultivariateNormal, the event shape is [5]. - Batch shape describes independent, not identically distributed draws, aka a "collection" or "bunch" of distributions. - Sample shape describes independent, identically distributed draws of batches from the distribution family.

The event shape and the batch shape are properties of a Distribution object, whereas the sample shape is associated with a specific call to sample or log_prob.

For detailed usage examples of TensorFlow Distributions shapes, see this tutorial

Parameter values leading to undefined statistics or distributions.

Some distributions do not have well-defined statistics for all initialization parameter values. For example, the beta distribution is parameterized by positive real numbers concentration1 and concentration0, and does not have well-defined mode if concentration1 < 1 or concentration0 < 1.

The user is given the option of raising an exception or returning NaN.

a = tf.exp(tf.matmul(logits, weights_a))
b = tf.exp(tf.matmul(logits, weights_b))

# Will raise exception if ANY batch member has a < 1 or b < 1.
dist = distributions.beta(a, b, allow_nan_stats=False)
mode = dist.mode().eval()

# Will return NaN for batch members with either a < 1 or b < 1.
dist = distributions.beta(a, b, allow_nan_stats=True)  # Default behavior
mode = dist.mode().eval()

In all cases, an exception is raised if invalid parameters are passed, e.g.

# Will raise an exception if any Op is run.
negative_a = -1.0 * a  # beta distribution by definition has a > 0.
dist = distributions.beta(negative_a, b, allow_nan_stats=True)
dist.mean().eval()

Properties

allow_nan_stats

Python bool describing behavior when a stat is undefined.

Stats return +/- infinity when it makes sense. E.g., the variance of a Cauchy distribution is infinity. However, sometimes the statistic is undefined, e.g., if a distribution's pdf does not achieve a maximum within the support of the distribution, the mode is undefined. If the mean is undefined, then by definition the variance is undefined. E.g. the mean for Student's T for df = 1 is undefined (no clear way to say it is either + or - infinity), so the variance = E[(X - mean)**2] is also undefined.

Returns:

• allow_nan_stats: Python bool.

batch_shape

Shape of a single sample from a single event index as a TensorShape.

May be partially defined or unknown.

The batch dimensions are indexes into independent, non-identical parameterizations of this distribution.

Returns:

• batch_shape: TensorShape, possibly unknown.

dtype

The DType of Tensors handled by this Distribution.

event_shape

Shape of a single sample from a single batch as a TensorShape.

May be partially defined or unknown.

Returns:

• event_shape: TensorShape, possibly unknown.

name

Name prepended to all ops created by this Distribution.

parameters

Dictionary of parameters used to instantiate this Distribution.

reparameterization_type

Describes how samples from the distribution are reparameterized.

Currently this is one of the static instances distributions.FULLY_REPARAMETERIZED or distributions.NOT_REPARAMETERIZED.

Returns:

An instance of ReparameterizationType.

validate_args

Python bool indicating possibly expensive checks are enabled.

Methods

__init__

__init__(
    dtype,
    reparameterization_type,
    validate_args,
    allow_nan_stats,
    parameters=None,
    graph_parents=None,
    name=None
)

Constructs the Distribution.

This is a private method for subclass use.

Args:

• dtype: The type of the event samples. None implies no type-enforcement.
• reparameterization_type: Instance of ReparameterizationType. If distributions.FULLY_REPARAMETERIZED, this Distribution can be reparameterized in terms of some standard distribution with a function whose Jacobian is constant for the support of the standard distribution. If distributions.NOT_REPARAMETERIZED, then no such reparameterization is available.
• validate_args: Python bool, default False. When True distribution parameters are checked for validity despite possibly degrading runtime performance. When False invalid inputs may silently render incorrect outputs.
• allow_nan_stats: Python bool, default True. When True, statistics (e.g., mean, mode, variance) use the value "NaN" to indicate the result is undefined. When False, an exception is raised if one or more of the statistic's batch members are undefined.
• parameters: Python dict of parameters used to instantiate this Distribution.
• graph_parents: Python list of graph prerequisites of this Distribution.
• name: Python str name prefixed to Ops created by this class. Default: subclass name.

Raises:

• ValueError: if any member of graph_parents is None or not a Tensor.

batch_shape_tensor

batch_shape_tensor(name='batch_shape_tensor')

Shape of a single sample from a single event index as a 1-D Tensor.

The batch dimensions are indexes into independent, non-identical parameterizations of this distribution.

Args:

• name: name to give to the op

Returns:

• batch_shape: Tensor.

cdf

cdf(
    value,
    name='cdf'
)

Cumulative distribution function.

Given random variable X, the cumulative distribution function cdf is:

cdf(x) := P[X <= x]

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• cdf: a Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

copy

copy(**override_parameters_kwargs)

Creates a deep copy of the distribution.

Note: the copy distribution may continue to depend on the original initialization arguments.

Args:

• **override_parameters_kwargs: String/value dictionary of initialization arguments to override with new values.

Returns:

• distribution: A new instance of type(self) initialized from the union of self.parameters and override_parameters_kwargs, i.e., dict(self.parameters, **override_parameters_kwargs).

covariance

covariance(name='covariance')

Covariance.

Covariance is (possibly) defined only for non-scalar-event distributions.

For example, for a length-k, vector-valued distribution, it is calculated as,

Cov[i, j] = Covariance(X_i, X_j) = E[(X_i - E[X_i]) (X_j - E[X_j])]

where Cov is a (batch of) k x k matrix, 0 <= (i, j) < k, and E denotes expectation.

Alternatively, for non-vector, multivariate distributions (e.g., matrix-valued, Wishart), Covariance shall return a (batch of) matrices under some vectorization of the events, i.e.,

Cov[i, j] = Covariance(Vec(X)_i, Vec(X)_j) = [as above]

where Cov is a (batch of) k' x k' matrices, 0 <= (i, j) < k' = reduce_prod(event_shape), and Vec is some function mapping indices of this distribution's event dimensions to indices of a length-k' vector.

Args:

• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• covariance: Floating-point Tensor with shape [B1, ..., Bn, k', k'] where the first n dimensions are batch coordinates and k' = reduce_prod(self.event_shape).

cross_entropy

cross_entropy(
    other,
    name='cross_entropy'
)

Computes the (Shannon) cross entropy.

Denote this distribution (self) by P and the other distribution by Q. Assuming P, Q are absolutely continuous with respect to one another and permit densities p(x) dr(x) and q(x) dr(x), (Shanon) cross entropy is defined as:

H[P, Q] = E_p[-log q(X)] = -int_F p(x) log q(x) dr(x)

where F denotes the support of the random variable X ~ P.

Args:

• other: tf.distributions.Distribution instance.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• cross_entropy: self.dtype Tensor with shape [B1, ..., Bn] representing n different calculations of (Shanon) cross entropy.

entropy

entropy(name='entropy')

Shannon entropy in nats.

event_shape_tensor

event_shape_tensor(name='event_shape_tensor')

Shape of a single sample from a single batch as a 1-D int32 Tensor.

Args:

• name: name to give to the op

Returns:

• event_shape: Tensor.

is_scalar_batch

is_scalar_batch(name='is_scalar_batch')

Indicates that batch_shape == [].

Args:

• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• is_scalar_batch: bool scalar Tensor.

is_scalar_event

is_scalar_event(name='is_scalar_event')

Indicates that event_shape == [].

Args:

• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• is_scalar_event: bool scalar Tensor.

kl_divergence

kl_divergence(
    other,
    name='kl_divergence'
)

Computes the Kullback--Leibler divergence.

Denote this distribution (self) by p and the other distribution by q. Assuming p, q are absolutely continuous with respect to reference measure r, the KL divergence is defined as:

KL[p, q] = E_p[log(p(X)/q(X))]
         = -int_F p(x) log q(x) dr(x) + int_F p(x) log p(x) dr(x)
         = H[p, q] - H[p]

where F denotes the support of the random variable X ~ p, H[., .] denotes (Shanon) cross entropy, and H[.] denotes (Shanon) entropy.

Args:

• other: tf.distributions.Distribution instance.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• kl_divergence: self.dtype Tensor with shape [B1, ..., Bn] representing n different calculations of the Kullback-Leibler divergence.

log_cdf

log_cdf(
    value,
    name='log_cdf'
)

Log cumulative distribution function.

Given random variable X, the cumulative distribution function cdf is:

log_cdf(x) := Log[ P[X <= x] ]

Often, a numerical approximation can be used for log_cdf(x) that yields a more accurate answer than simply taking the logarithm of the cdf when x << -1.

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• logcdf: a Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

log_prob

log_prob(
    value,
    name='log_prob'
)

Log probability density/mass function.

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• log_prob: a Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

log_survival_function

log_survival_function(
    value,
    name='log_survival_function'
)

Log survival function.

Given random variable X, the survival function is defined:

log_survival_function(x) = Log[ P[X > x] ]
                         = Log[ 1 - P[X <= x] ]
                         = Log[ 1 - cdf(x) ]

Typically, different numerical approximations can be used for the log survival function, which are more accurate than 1 - cdf(x) when x >> 1.

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

mean

mean(name='mean')

Mean.

mode

mode(name='mode')

Mode.

param_shapes

@classmethod
param_shapes(
    cls,
    sample_shape,
    name='DistributionParamShapes'
)

Shapes of parameters given the desired shape of a call to sample().

This is a class method that describes what key/value arguments are required to instantiate the given Distribution so that a particular shape is returned for that instance's call to sample().

Subclasses should override class method _param_shapes.

Args:

• sample_shape: Tensor or python list/tuple. Desired shape of a call to sample().
• name: name to prepend ops with.

Returns:

dict of parameter name to Tensor shapes.

param_static_shapes

@classmethod
param_static_shapes(
    cls,
    sample_shape
)

param_shapes with static (i.e. TensorShape) shapes.

This is a class method that describes what key/value arguments are required to instantiate the given Distribution so that a particular shape is returned for that instance's call to sample(). Assumes that the sample's shape is known statically.

Subclasses should override class method _param_shapes to return constant-valued tensors when constant values are fed.

Args:

• sample_shape: TensorShape or python list/tuple. Desired shape of a call to sample().

Returns:

dict of parameter name to TensorShape.

Raises:

• ValueError: if sample_shape is a TensorShape and is not fully defined.

prob

prob(
    value,
    name='prob'
)

Probability density/mass function.

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• prob: a Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

quantile

quantile(
    value,
    name='quantile'
)

Quantile function. Aka "inverse cdf" or "percent point function".

Given random variable X and p in [0, 1], the quantile is:

quantile(p) := x such that P[X <= x] == p

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• quantile: a Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

sample

sample(
    sample_shape=(),
    seed=None,
    name='sample'
)

Generate samples of the specified shape.

Note that a call to sample() without arguments will generate a single sample.

Args:

• sample_shape: 0D or 1D int32 Tensor. Shape of the generated samples.
• seed: Python integer seed for RNG
• name: name to give to the op.

Returns:

• samples: a Tensor with prepended dimensions sample_shape.

stddev

stddev(name='stddev')

Standard deviation.

Standard deviation is defined as,

stddev = E[(X - E[X])**2]**0.5

where X is the random variable associated with this distribution, E denotes expectation, and stddev.shape = batch_shape + event_shape.

Args:

• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• stddev: Floating-point Tensor with shape identical to batch_shape + event_shape, i.e., the same shape as self.mean().

survival_function

survival_function(
    value,
    name='survival_function'
)

Survival function.

Given random variable X, the survival function is defined:

survival_function(x) = P[X > x]
                     = 1 - P[X <= x]
                     = 1 - cdf(x).

Args:

• value: float or double Tensor.
• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

Tensor of shape sample_shape(x) + self.batch_shape with values of type self.dtype.

variance

variance(name='variance')

Variance.

Variance is defined as,

Var = E[(X - E[X])**2]

where X is the random variable associated with this distribution, E denotes expectation, and Var.shape = batch_shape + event_shape.

Args:

• name: Python str prepended to names of ops created by this function.

Returns:

• variance: Floating-point Tensor with shape identical to batch_shape + event_shape, i.e., the same shape as self.mean().