distances

Definition

Measures of how far apart two objects are. Distances between distributions — Wasserstein, total variation, MMD — are central objectives in generative modelling, and the choice shapes gradient behaviour and training stability as much as the model does. Strictly, a distance is a metric satisfying symmetry and the triangle inequality; KL and its relatives fail that and are properly divergences, though papers are loose about it.

Explainers using this term

• Optimal Transport — The Mathematics of Moving DistributionsSinkhorn Distances: Lightspeed Computation of Optimal Transport