Two original weight pruning methods based on statistical tests and rounding techniques

The authors focus on the use of neural networks to approximate continuous decision functions. In this context, the parameters to be estimated are the synaptic weights of the network. The number of such parameters and the quantity of data (information) available for training greatly influence the quality of the solution obtained. A previous study analysed the influence and interaction of these two features. In order to reach the architecture of the net leading to the best fitting of the training data, two original pruning techniques are proposed. The evolution of the neural network performances, training and test rates, as the number of synaptic weights pruned increases, is shown experimentally. Two kinds of synaptic weights are obvious: irrelevant synaptic weights, which can be suppressed from the model; and relevant synaptic weights, which cannot be removed. In the test problem, it is possible to reduce the size of the network up to 42%. A 4% improvement of the performance in generalisation is observed