The Observation Theory EncyclopediaFrom TSKAboutBy kindBy chapterBy Lean fileLedgerProvenance

read operator concept

DefinitionThe average outer product of a consumer's sensitivity over a dataset, an average of local linearizations whose kernel is the set of directions unread at almost every row of the workload. Its range is the read subspace and its kernel is the nuisance. Equations 0.9 and 0.11.
ExampleThe affine consumer 3x1 + 4x2 has read operator with rows (9, 12) and (12, 16) at every row.
BookData Mining as Observation, draft 0.2, commit f3914f0; entry id read-operator, kind concept.
Statusmeasures [predicted]. Corrections: 1 item(s), see below.
Defining equation

Book equation 0.9.

Assumptions and scope
  • Each local operator is positive semidefinite, so the kernel of the workload average is the intersection of the local kernels up to sets of rows of measure zero, and an average-null direction is locally unread at almost every row of that workload.
  • The average depends on the workload it was taken over and is written with that workload where the difference matters.
  • Its off-diagonal entries are co-sensitivities, how two features’ sensitivities vary together across rows, and not interactions, which are cross-partials and live in the Hessian.
  • The metric in the vector-output form is the local geometry of the output metric where that metric has a local quadratic representation. A dataset-level loss has none, and the operator is then taken on the score with the identity geometry.
Prior artIn the scalar Euclidean-output case the read operator is the active-subspace matrix of Constantine and Gleich, the covariance of the gradient. What the program adds is the pullback through the output metric, the observer triple, the budget, and the audit discipline.
Evidencegeometric-observation/claims/LEDGER.md:162, geometric-observation/chapters/ch04_the_observer_triple.md:9-60, geometric-observation/OBSERVATION.md:1-10, geometric-observation/chapters/ch05_the_read_metric_and_the_quotient.md:42-47, lean/DataMiningAsObservation/ReadOperator.lean
Reviewedsemantic review 2026-09-06; generated 2026-09-10 from records at the commits on the provenance page.
P_C = E[g gᵀ]
The averaged outer product of the sensitivity with itself.

Equation

Book equation 0.9.

\[P_C=\mathbb E\!\left[g\,g^{\top}\right],\qquad g=\nabla C(x).\]

Book equation 0.11.

\[P_C(x)=J(x)^{\top}G\big(C(x)\big)\,J(x),\qquad J(x)=\frac{\partial C}{\partial x}(x),\qquad \bar P_{C,\mu}=\mathbb E_{\mu}\!\left[P_C(x)\right].\]

Book equation 2.1.

\[P_{C_2\circ C_1}(x)=J_1(x)^{\top}\,P_{C_2}\big(C_1(x)\big)\,J_1(x),\qquad \operatorname{rank}P_{C_2\circ C_1}(x)\le\operatorname{rank}P_{C_2}\big(C_1(x)\big)\quad\text{at each row } x.\]

Book equation 6.1.

\[s(x)=w\cdot x+b,\qquad P_C=\mathbb E\big[\sigma'(s)^{2}\big]\,w\,w^{\top},\qquad \operatorname{rank}P_C=1.\]

Conditions

Conditions are curated in entries.toml rather than read from a record.

Ledger

First stated

Volume 14, chapters 4 and 5, geometric-observation/chapters/ch04_the_observer_triple.md:9-60 and geometric-observation/chapters/ch05_the_read_metric_and_the_quotient.md:7-48, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21776291.

Measurements

Where the book states it Numbers, as the book’s sources table records them Source
chapter 1 section 1.2 the observer triple, read subspace, nuisance, same read operator means same read geometry geometric-observation/chapters/ch04_the_observer_triple.md:9-60; geometric-observation/OBSERVATION.md:1-10

Failures and corrections

Invariance envelope

Survived.

Boundary measured.

Failed, with witness.

Machine checked

lean/DataMiningAsObservation/ReadOperator.lean, theorems rank_one_reads_one_direction, readOp_mulVec, quad_readOp, quad_readOp_nonneg, readOp_mulVec_eq_zero_iff, readOp_diag, readOp_offdiag, readOp_symm, readOp_neg, affine_const_along_nuisance, readOp_affine, readOp_sqLength_basis, at observation-data-mining f3914f0; what the check covers is stated in the book’s appendix C.

Used in

Data Mining as Observation primer L, chapters 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14.

Related

read distortion; quotient; identity reader; blind probe; the flip.

See also

Ledger rows that cite the entry’s records without naming it: OT-7, GO-1.

Sources-table rows that share a record with the entry without naming it: chapter 2 section 2.2, chapter 2 section 2.3, chapter 6 section 6.1, chapter 6 section 6.2, chapter 11 section 11.7.

Status

Generated 2026-09-10 by encyclopedia/generate.py; book at observation-data-mining f3914f0; the commit of every record is listed in the encyclopedia’s provenance.

← read distortionread subspace →