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# Theory
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TaylorDiff.jl is an operator-overloading based forward-mode automatic differentiation (AD) package. "Forward-mode" implies that the basic capability of this package is that, for function $f:\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb R^m$, place to evaluate derivative $x\in\mathbb R^n$ and direction $l\in\mathbb R^n$, we compute
TaylorDiff.jl is an operator-overloading based forward-mode automatic differentiation (AD) package.
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"Forward-mode" implies that the basic capability of this package is that, for function $f:\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb R^m$, place to evaluate derivative $x\in\mathbb R^n$ and direction $l\in\mathbb R^n$, we compute
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```math
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f(x),\partial f(x)\times v,\partial^2f(x)\times v\times v,\cdots,\partial^pf(x)\times v\times\cdots\times v
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```
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i.e., the function value and the directional derivative up to order $p$. This notation might be unfamiliar to Julia users that had experience with other AD packages, but $\partial f(x)$ is simply the jacobian $J$, and $\partial f(x)\times v$ is simply the Jacobian-vector product (JVP).
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i.e., the function value and the directional derivative up to order $p$.
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This notation might be unfamiliar to Julia users that had experience with other AD packages, but $\partial f(x)$ is simply the jacobian $J$, and $\partial f(x)\times v$ is simply the Jacobian-vector product (JVP).
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In other words, this is a simple generalization of Jacobian-vector product to Hessian-vector-vector product, and to even higher orders.
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The main advantage of doing this instead of doing $p$ first-order Jacobian-vector products is that nesting first-order AD results in exponential scaling w.r.t $p$, while this method, also known as Taylor mode, should be (almost) linear scaling w.r.t $p$. We will see the reason of this claim later.
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The main advantage of doing this instead of doing $p$ first-order Jacobian-vector products is that nesting first-order AD results in exponential scaling w.r.t $p$, while this method, also known as Taylor mode, should be (almost) linear scaling w.r.t $p$.
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We will see the reason of this claim later.
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In order to achieve this, assuming that $f$ is a nested function $f_k\circ\cdots\circ f_2\circ f_1$, where each $f_i$ is a basic and simple function, or called "primitives".
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We need to figure out how to propagate the derivatives through each step. In first order AD, this is achieved by the "dual" pair $x_0+x_1\varepsilon$, where $\varepsilon^2=0$, and for each primitive we make a method overload
Similarly in higher-order AD, we need for each primitive a method overload for a truncated Taylor polynomial up to order $p$, and in this polynomial we will use $t$ instead of $\varepsilon$ to denote the sensitivity. "Truncated" means $t^{p+1}=0$, similar as what we defined for dual numbers. So
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We need to figure out how to propagate the derivatives through each step.
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In first order AD, this is achieved by the "dual" pair $x_0+x_1\varepsilon$, where $\varepsilon^2=0$, and for each primitive we make a method overload
Similarly in higher-order AD, we need for each primitive a method overload for a truncated Taylor polynomial up to order $p$, and in this polynomial we will use $t$ instead of $\varepsilon$ to denote the sensitivity.
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"Truncated" means $t^{p+1}=0$, similar as what we defined for dual numbers. So
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```math
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f(x_0+x_1t+x_2t^2+\cdots+x_pt^p)=?
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```
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What is the math expression that we should put into the question mark?
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That specific expression is called the "pushforward rule", and we will talk about how to derive the pushforward rule below.
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Before deriving pushforward rules, let's first introduce several basic properties of polynomials.
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If $x(t)$ and $y(t)$ are both truncated Taylor polynomials, i.e.
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```math
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\begin{aligned}
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x&=x_0+x_1t+\cdots+x_pt^p\\
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```
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Then it's obvious that the polynomial addition and subtraction should be
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``(x\pm y)_k=x_k\pm y_k``
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```math
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(x\pm y)_k=x_k\pm y_k
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```
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And with some derivation we can also get the polynomial multiplication rule
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``(x\times y)_k=\sum_{i=0}^kx_iy_{k-i}``
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```math
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(x\times y)_k=\sum_{i=0}^kx_iy_{k-i}
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```
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The polynomial division rule is less obvious, but if $x/y=z$, then equivalently $x=yz$, i.e.
This is a recurrence relation, which means that we can first get $z_0=x_0/y_0$, and then get $z_1$ using $z_0$, and then get $z_2$ using $z_0,z_1$ etc.
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## Pushforward rule for elementary functions
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Let's now consider how to derive the pushforward rule for elementary functions. We will use $\exp$ and $\log$ as two examples.
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Let's now consider how to derive the pushforward rule for elementary functions.
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We will use $\exp$ and $\log$ as two examples.
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If $x(t)$ is a polynomial and we want to get $e(t)=\exp(x(t))$, we can actually get that by formulating an ordinary differential equation:
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``e'(t)=\exp(x(t))x'(t);\quad e_0=\exp(x_0)``
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```math
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e'(t)=\exp(x(t))x'(t);\quad e_0=\exp(x_0)
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```
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If we expand both $e$ and $x$ in the equation, we will get
Now notice the difference between the rule for $\exp$ and $\log$: the derivative of exponentiation is itself, so we can obtain from recurrence relation; the derivative of logarithm is $1/x$, an algebraic expression in $x$, so it can be directly computed. Similarly, we have $(\tan x)'=1+\tan^2x$ but $(\arctan x)'=(1+x^2)^{-1}$. We summarize (omitting proof) that
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Now notice the difference between the rule for $\exp$ and $\log$: the derivative of exponentiation is itself, so we can obtain from recurrence relation; the derivative of logarithm is $1/x$, an algebraic expression in $x$, so it can be directly computed.
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Similarly, we have $(\tan x)'=1+\tan^2x$ but $(\arctan x)'=(1+x^2)^{-1}$. We summarize (omitting proof) that
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- Every $\exp$-like function (like $\sin$, $\cos$, $\tan$, $\sinh$, ...)'s derivative is somehow recursive
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- Every $\log$-like function (like $\arcsin$, $\arccos$, $\arctan$, $\operatorname{arcsinh}$, ...)'s derivative is algebraic
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So all of the elementary functions have an easy pushforward rule that can be computed within $O(p^2)$ time. Note that this is an elegant and straightforward corollary from the definition of "elementary function" in differential algebra.
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So all of the elementary functions have an easy pushforward rule that can be computed within $O(p^2)$ time.
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Note that this is an elegant and straightforward corollary from the definition of "elementary function" in differential algebra.
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## Generic pushforward rule
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For a generic $f(x)$, if we don't bother deriving the specific recurrence rule for it, we can still automatically generate pushforward rule in the following manner. Let's denote the derivative of $f$ w.r.t $x$ to be $d(x)$, then for $f(t)=f(x(t))$ we have
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``f'(t)=d(x(t))x'(t);\quad f(0)=f(x_0)``
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For a generic $f(x)$, if we don't bother deriving the specific recurrence rule for it, we can still automatically generate pushforward rule in the following manner.
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Let's denote the derivative of $f$ w.r.t $x$ to be $d(x)$, then for $f(t)=f(x(t))$ we have
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```math
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f'(t)=d(x(t))x'(t);\quad f(0)=f(x_0)
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```
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when we expand $f$ and $x$ up to order $p$ into this equation, we notice that only order $p-1$ is needed for $d(x(t))$. In other words, we turn a problem of finding $p$-th order pushforward for $f$, to a problem of finding $p-1$-th order pushforward for $d$, and we can recurse down to the first order. The first-order derivative expressions are captured from ChainRules.jl, which made this process fully automatic.
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when we expand $f$ and $x$ up to order $p$ into this equation, we notice that only order $p-1$ is needed for $d(x(t))$.
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In other words, we turn a problem of finding $p$-th order pushforward for $f$, to a problem of finding $p-1$-th order pushforward for $d$, and we can recurse down to the first order.
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The first-order derivative expressions are captured from ChainRules.jl, which made this process fully automatic.
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This strategy is in principle equivalent to nesting first-order differentiation, which could potentially leads to exponential scaling; however, in practice there is a huge difference. This generation of pushforward rule happens at **compile time**, which gives the compiler a chance to check redundant expressions and optimize it down to quadratic time. Compiler has stack limits but this should work for at least up to order 100.
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This strategy is in principle equivalent to nesting first-order differentiation, which could potentially leads to exponential scaling; however, in practice there is a huge difference.
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This generation of pushforward rule happens at **compile time**, which gives the compiler a chance to check redundant expressions and optimize it down to quadratic time.
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Compiler has stack limits but this should work for at least up to order 100.
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In the current implementation of TaylorDiff.jl, all $\log$-like functions' pushforward rules are generated by this strategy, since their derivatives are simple algebraic expressions; some $\exp$-like functions, like sinh, is also generated; the most-often-used several $\exp$-like functions are hand-written with hand-derived recurrence relations.
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