The block Kaczmarz method is an iterative scheme for solving overdetermined least-squares problems. At each step, the algorithm projects the current iterate onto the solution space of a subset of the constraints. This paper describes a block Kaczmarz algorithm that uses a randomized control scheme to choose the subset at each step. This algorithm is the first block Kaczmarz method with an (expected) linear rate of convergence that can be expressed in terms of the geometric properties of the matrix and its submatrices. The analysis reveals that the algorithm is most effective when it is given a good row paving of the matrix, a partition of the rows into well-conditioned blocks. The operator theory literature provides detailed information about the existence and construction of good row pavings. Together, these results yield an efficient block Kaczmarz scheme that applies to many overdetermined least-squares problem.
The block Kaczmarz update rule we are studying is originally due to Elfving [Eqn. (2.2)] Elf80:Block-Iterative-Methods . This update is a special case of a general framework due to @cite_48 . Byrne describes a number of other block Kaczmarz methods in his book [Chap. 9] Byr08:Applied-Iterative .
@cite_48
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The block Kaczmarz method is an iterative scheme for solving overdetermined least-squares problems. At each step, the algorithm projects the current iterate onto the solution space of a subset of the constraints. This paper describes a block Kaczmarz algorithm that uses a randomized control scheme to choose the subset at each step. This algorithm is the first block Kaczmarz method with an (expected) linear rate of convergence that can be expressed in terms of the geometric properties of the matrix and its submatrices. The analysis reveals that the algorithm is most effective when it is given a good row paving of the matrix, a partition of the rows into well-conditioned blocks. The operator theory literature provides detailed information about the existence and construction of good row pavings. Together, these results yield an efficient block Kaczmarz scheme that applies to many overdetermined least-squares problem. Abstract The Kaczmarz method is an iterative method for solving overcomplete linear systems of equations A x = b . The randomized version of the Kaczmarz method put forth by Strohmer and Vershynin iteratively projects onto a randomly chosen solution space given by a single row of the matrix A and converges linearly 1 in expectation to the solution of a consistent system. In this paper we analyze two block versions of the method each with a randomized projection, designed to converge in expectation to the least squares solution, often faster than the standard variants. Our approach utilizes both a row and column-paving of the matrix A to guarantee linear convergence when the matrix has consistent row norms (called nearly standardized), and a single column-paving when the row norms are unbounded. The proposed methods are an extension of the block Kaczmarz method analyzed by Needell and Tropp and the Randomized Extended Kaczmarz method of Zouzias and Freris. The contribution is thus two-fold; unlike the standard Kaczmarz method, our results demonstrate convergence to the least squares solution of inconsistent systems (both methods in the nearly standardized case and the second method in other cases). By using appropriate blocks of the matrix this convergence can be significantly accelerated, as is demonstrated by numerical experiments. The Kaczmarz method is an iterative algorithm for solving systems of linear equations Ax=b. Theoretical convergence rates for this algorithm were largely unknown until recently when work was done on a randomized version of the algorithm. It was proved that for overdetermined systems, the randomized Kaczmarz method converges with expected exponential rate, independent of the number of equations in the system. Here we analyze the case where the system Ax=b is corrupted by noise, so we consider the system Ax≈b+r where r is an arbitrary error vector. We prove that in this noisy version, the randomized method reaches an error threshold dependent on the matrix A with the same rate as in the error-free case. We provide examples showing our results are sharp in the general context. The randomized Kaczmarz method is an iterative algorithm that solves systems of linear equations. Recently, the randomized method was extended to systems of equalities and inequalities by Leventhal and Lewis. Even more recently, Needell and Tropp provided an analysis of a block version of this randomized method for systems of linear equations. This paper considers the use of a block type method for systems of mixed equalities and inequalities, bridging these two bodies of work. We show that utilizing a matrix paving over the equalities of the system can lead to significantly improved convergence, and prove a linear convergence rate as in the standard block method. We also demonstrate that using blocks of inequalities offers similar improvement only when the system satisfies a certain geometric property. We support the theoretical analysis with several experimental results.