I have a problem with fitting a custom function using scipy.optimize in Python and I do not know, why that is happening. I generate data from centered and normalized binomial distribution (Gaussian curve) and then fit a curve. The expected outcome is in the picture when I plot my function over the fitted data. But when I do the fitting, it fails.
I'm convinced it is a pythonic thing because it should give the parameter a = 1 (that's how I define it) and it gives it but then the fit is bad (see picture). However, if I change sigma to 0.65*sigma in:
p_halfg, p_halfg_cov = optimize.curve_fit(lambda x, a:piecewise_half_gauss(x, a, sigma = 0.65*sigma_fit), x, y, p0=[1])
, it gives almost perfect fit (a is then 5/3, as predicted by math). Those fits should be the same and they are not! I give more comments bellow. Could you please tell me what is happening and where the problem could be?
Plot with a=1 and sigma = sigma_fit
Plot with sigma = 0.65*sigma_fit
I generate data from normalized binomial distribution (I can provide my code but the values are more important now). It is a distribution with N = 10 and p = 0.5 and I'm centering it and taking only the right side of the curve. Then I'm fitting it with my half-gauss function, which should be the same distribution as binomial if its parameter a = 1 (and the sigma is equal to the sigma of the distribution, sqrt(np(1-p)) ). Now the problem is first that it does not fit the data as shown in the picture despite getting the correct value of parameter a.
Notice weird stuff... if I set sigma = 3* sigma_fit, I get a = 1/3 and a very bad fit (underestimate). If I set it to 0.2*sigma_fit, I get also a bad fit and a = 1/0.2 = 5 (overestimate). And so on. Why? (btw. a=1/sigma so the fitting procedure should work).
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import math
pi = math.pi
import scipy.optimize as optimize
# define my function
sigma_fit = 1
def piecewise_half_gauss(x, a, sigma=sigma_fit):
"""Half of normal distribution curve, defined as gaussian centered at 0 with constant value of preexponential factor for x < 0
Arguments: x values as ndarray whose numbers MUST be float type (use linspace or np.arange(start, end, step, dtype=float),
a as a parameter of width of the distribution,
sigma being the deviation, second moment
Returns: Half gaussian curve
Ex:
>>> piecewise_half_gauss(5., 1)
array(0.04839414)
>>> x = np.linspace(0,10,11)
... piecewise_half_gauss(x, 2, 3)
array([0.06649038, 0.06557329, 0.0628972 , 0.05867755, 0.05324133,
0.04698531, 0.04032845, 0.03366645, 0.02733501, 0.02158627,
0.01657952])
>>> piecewise_half_gauss(np.arange(0,11,1, dtype=float), 1, 2.4)
array([1.66225950e-01, 1.52405153e-01, 1.17463281e-01, 7.61037856e-02,
4.14488078e-02, 1.89766470e-02, 7.30345854e-03, 2.36286717e-03,
6.42616248e-04, 1.46914868e-04, 2.82345875e-05])
"""
return np.piecewise(x, [x >= 0, x < 0],
[lambda x: np.exp(-x ** 2 / (2 * ((a * sigma) ** 2))) / (np.sqrt(2 * pi) * sigma * a),
lambda x: 1 / (np.sqrt(2 * pi) * sigma)])
# Create normalized data for binomial distribution Bin(N,p)
n = 10
p = 0.5
x = np.array([0., 1., 2., 3., 4., 5.])
y = np.array([0.25231325, 0.20657662, 0.11337165, 0.0417071 , 0.01028484,
0.00170007])
# Get the estimate for sigma parameter
sigma_fit = (n*p*(1-p))**0.5
# Get fitting parameters
p_halfg, p_halfg_cov = optimize.curve_fit(lambda x, a:piecewise_half_gauss(x, a, sigma = sigma_fit), x, y, p0=[1])
print(sigma_fit, p_halfg, p_halfg_cov)
## Plot the result
# unpack fitting parameters
a = np.float64(p_halfg)
# unpack uncertainties in fitting parameters from diagonal of covariance matrix
#da = [np.sqrt(p_halfg_cov[j,j]) for j in range(p_halfg.size)] # if we fit more parameters
da = np.float64(np.sqrt(p_halfg_cov[0]))
# create fitting function from fitted parameters
f_fit = np.linspace(0, 10, 50)
y_fit = piecewise_half_gauss(f_fit, a)
# Create figure window to plot data
fig = plt.figure(1, figsize=(10,10))
plt.scatter(x, y, color = 'r', label = 'Original points')
plt.plot(f_fit, y_fit, label = 'Fit')
plt.xlabel('My x values')
plt.ylabel('My y values')
plt.text(5.8, .25, 'a = {0:0.5f}$\pm${1:0.6f}'.format(a, da))
plt.legend()
However, if I plot it manually, it fits EXACTLY!
plt.scatter(x, y, c = 'r', label = 'Original points')
plt.plot(np.linspace(0,5,50), piecewise_half_gauss(np.linspace(0,5,50), 1, sigma_fit), label = 'Fit')
plt.legend()
EDIT -- solved: it is a plotting problem, need to use
y_fit = piecewise_half_gauss(f_fit, a, sigma = 0.6*sigma_fit)
The problem was in plotting and fitting the parameters -- if I fit it with different sigma, I also need to change it in the plotting section when I generate y_fit:
# Get fitting parameters
p_halfg, p_halfg_cov = optimize.curve_fit(lambda x, a:piecewise_half_gauss(x, a, sigma = 0.6*sigma_fit), x, y, p0=[1])
...
y_fit = piecewise_half_gauss(f_fit, a, sigma = 0.6*sigma_fit)