tensorflowtensorboard

What is the mathematics behind the "smoothing" parameter in TensorBoard's scalar graphs?


I presume it is some kind of moving average, but the valid range is between 0 and 1.


Solution

  • ORIGINAL ANSWER

    It is called exponential moving average, below is a code explanation how it is created.

    Assuming all the real scalar values are in a list called scalars the smoothing is applied as follows:

    def smooth(scalars: List[float], weight: float) -> List[float]:  # Weight between 0 and 1
        last = scalars[0]  # First value in the plot (first timestep)
        smoothed = list()
        for point in scalars:
            smoothed_val = last * weight + (1 - weight) * point  # Calculate smoothed value
            smoothed.append(smoothed_val)                        # Save it
            last = smoothed_val                                  # Anchor the last smoothed value
            
        return smoothed
    

    UPDATED ANSWER

    As @SaPropper correctly pointed out, TensorBoard now includes the debiasing factor.