The Energy of Data

Posted: 21 Mar 2017

See all articles by Gábor J. Székely

Gábor J. Székely

National Science Foundation

Maria Rizzo

Bowling Green State University

Date Written: March 2017

Abstract

The energy of data is the value of a real function of distances between data in metric spaces. The name energy derives from Newton's gravitational potential energy, which is also a function of distances between physical objects. One of the advantages of working with energy functions (energy statistics) is that even if the data are complex objects, such as functions or graphs, we can use their real-valued distances for inference. Other advantages are illustrated and discussed in this review. Concrete examples include energy testing for normality, energy clustering, and distance correlation. Applications include genome studies, brain studies, and astrophysics. The direct connection between energy and mind/observations/data in this review is a counterpart of the equivalence of energy and matter/mass in Einstein's E=mc.

Suggested Citation

Székely, Gábor J. and Rizzo, Maria, The Energy of Data (March 2017). Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application, Vol. 4, Issue 1, pp. 447-479, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2937739 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-statistics-060116-054026

Gábor J. Székely (Contact Author)

National Science Foundation ( email )

4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
United States

Maria Rizzo

Bowling Green State University ( email )

Department of Psychology
Bowling Green, OH 43403
United States

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