Math Problem: Scale a graph so that it matches another - math

Question

I have 2 tables of values and want to scale the first one so that it matches the 2nd one as good as possible. Both have the same length. If both are drawn as graphs in a diagram they should be as close to each other as possible. But I do not want quadratic, but simple linear weights.
My problem is, that I have no idea how to actually compute the best scaling factor because of the Abs function.
Some pseudocode:
//given:
float[] table1= ...;
float[] table2= ...;
//wanted:
float factor= ???; // I have no idea how to compute this
float remainingDifference=0;
for(int i=0; i<length; i++)
{
float scaledValue=table1[i] * factor;
//Sum up the differences. I use the Abs function because negative differences are differences too.
remainingDifference += Abs(scaledValue - table2[i]);
}
I want to compute the scaling factor so that the remainingDifference is minimal.

Answer 1

Simple linear weights is hard like you said.
a_n = first sequence
b_n = second sequence
c = scaling factor
Your residual function is (sums are from i=1 to N, the number of points):
SUM( |a_i - c*b_i| )
Taking the derivative with respect to c yields:
d/dc SUM( |a_i - c*b_i| )
= SUM( b_i * (a_i - c*b_i)/|a_i - c*b_i| )
Setting to 0 and solving for c is hard. I don't think there's an analytic way of doing that. You may want to try https://math.stackexchange.com/ to see if they have any bright ideas.
However if you work with quadratic weights, it becomes significantly simpler:
d/dc SUM( (a_i - c*b_i)^2 )
= SUM( 2*(a_i - c*b_i)* -c )
= -2c * SUM( a_i - c*b_i ) = 0
=> SUM(a_i) - c*SUM(b_i) = 0
=> c = SUM(a_i) / SUM(b_i)
I strongly suggest the latter approach if you can.

Answer 2

I would suggest trying some sort of variant on Newton Raphson.
Construct a function Diff(k) that looks at the difference in area between your two graphs between fixed markers A and B.
mathematically I guess it would be integral ( x = A to B ){ f(x) - k * g(x) }dx
anyway realistically you could just subtract the values,
like if you range from X = -10 to 10, and you have a data point for f(i) and g(i) on each integer i in [-10, 10], (ie 21 datapoints )
then you just sum( i = -10 to 10 ){ f(i) - k * g(i) }
basically you would expect this function to look like a parabola -- there will be an optimum k, and deviating slightly from it in either direction will increase the overall area difference
and the bigger the difference, you would expect the bigger the gap
so, this should be a pretty smooth function ( if you have a lot of data points )
so you want to minimise Diff(k)
so you want to find whether derivative ie d/dk Diff(k) = 0
so just do Newton Raphson on this new function D'(k)
kick it off at k=1 and it should zone in on a solution pretty fast
that's probably going to give you an optimal computation time
if you want something simpler, just start with some k1 and k2 that are either side of 0
so say Diff(1.5) = -3 and Diff(2.9) = 7
so then you would pick a k say 3/10 of the way (10 = 7 - -3) between 1.5 and 2.9
and depending on whether that yields a positive or negative value, use it as the new k1 or k2, rinse and repeat

Answer 3

In case anyone stumbles upon this in the future, here is some code (c++)
The trick is to first sort the samples by the scaling factor that would result in the best fit for the 2 samples each. Then start at both ends iterate to the factor that results in the minimum absolute deviation (L1-norm).
Everything except for the sort has a linear run time => Runtime is O(n*log n)
/*
* Find x so that the sum over std::abs(pA[i]-pB[i]*x) from i=0 to (n-1) is minimal
* Then return x
*/
float linearFit(const float* pA, const float* pB, int n)
{
/*
* Algebraic solution is not possible for the general case
* => iterative algorithm
*/
if (n < 0)
throw "linearFit has invalid argument: expected n >= 0";
if (n == 0)
return 0;//If there is nothing to fit, any factor is a perfect fit (sum is always 0)
if (n == 1)
return pA[0] / pB[0];//return x so that pA[0] = pB[0]*x
//If you don't like this , use a std::vector :P
std::unique_ptr<float[]> targetValues_(new float[n]);
std::unique_ptr<int[]> indices_(new int[n]);
//Get proper pointers:
float* targetValues = targetValues_.get();//The value for x that would cause pA[i] = pB[i]*x
int* indices = indices_.get(); //Indices of useful (not nan and not infinity) target values
//The code above guarantees n > 1, so it is safe to get these pointers:
int m = 0;//Number of useful target values
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
float a = pA[i];
float b = pB[i];
float targetValue = a / b;
targetValues[i] = targetValue;
if (std::isfinite(targetValue))
{
indices[m++] = i;
}
}
if (m <= 0)
return 0;
if (m == 1)
return targetValues[indices[0]];//If there is only one target value, then it has to be the best one.
//sort the indices by target value
std::sort(indices, indices + m, [&](int ia, int ib){
return targetValues[ia] < targetValues[ib];
});
//Start from the extremes and meet at the optimal solution somewhere in the middle:
int l = 0;
int r = m - 1;
// m >= 2 is guaranteed => l > r
float penaltyFactorL = std::abs(pB[indices[l]]);
float penaltyFactorR = std::abs(pB[indices[r]]);
while (l < r)
{
if (l == r - 1 && penaltyFactorL == penaltyFactorR)
{
break;
}
if (penaltyFactorL < penaltyFactorR)
{
l++;
if (l < r)
{
penaltyFactorL += std::abs(pB[indices[l]]);
}
}
else
{
r--;
if (l < r)
{
penaltyFactorR += std::abs(pB[indices[r]]);
}
}
}
//return the best target value
if (l == r)
return targetValues[indices[l]];
else
return (targetValues[indices[l]] + targetValues[indices[r]])*0.5;
}