Extendable and Iterative Structure Learning for Bayesian Networks
Keywords: structure learning, Bayesian networks, iterative
Abstract: Learning the structure of Bayesian networks is a fundamental yet computationally intensive task, especially as the number of variables grows. Traditional algorithms require retraining from scratch when new variables are introduced, making them impractical for dynamic or large-scale applications. In this paper, we propose an extendable structure learning strategy that efficiently incorporates a new variable $Y$ into an existing Bayesian network graph $\mathcal{G}$ over variables $\mathcal{X}$, resulting in an updated P-map graph $\bar{\mathcal{G}}$ on $\bar{\mathcal{X}} = \mathcal{X} \cup \{Y\}$. By leveraging the information encoded in $\mathcal{G}$, our method significantly reduces computational overhead compared to learning $\bar{\mathcal{G}}$ from scratch. Empirical evaluations demonstrate runtime reductions of up to 1300x without compromising accuracy. Building on this approach, we introduce a novel iterative paradigm for structure learning over $\mathcal{X}$. Starting with a small subset $\mathcal{U} \subset \mathcal{X}$, we iteratively add the remaining variables using our extendable algorithms to construct a P-map graph over the full set. This method offers runtime advantages comparable to common algorithms while maintaining similar accuracy. Our contributions provide a scalable solution for Bayesian network structure learning, enabling efficient model updates in real-time and high-dimensional settings.
Primary Area: probabilistic methods (Bayesian methods, variational inference, sampling, UQ, etc.)
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Submission Number: 12243
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