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Abstract : |
This paper highlights the role of mathematical programming, particularly linear programming, in training neural networks. A neural network description is given in terms of separating planes in the input space that suggests the use of linear programming for determining these planes. A more standard description in terms of a mean square error in the output space is also given, which leads to the use of unconstrained minimization techniques for training a neural network. The linear programming approach is demonstrated by a brief description of a system for breast cancer diagnosis that has been in use for the last four years at a major medical facility. 1 What is a Neural Network? A neural network is a representation of a map between an input space and an output space. A principal aim of such a map is to discriminate between the elements of a finite number of disjoint sets in the input space. Typically one wishes to discriminate between the elements of two disjoint point sets in the n-dimensional real space R n, |
