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Survey of 400 Activation Functions for Neural Networks (arxiv.org)
3 points by fzliu on Mar 10, 2024 | hide | past | pdf | discuss on HN

In plain words: A catalog gathers 400 activation functions—the small math rules that add non-linearity inside neural networks—organizing each with a link to its original paper. It is several times larger than earlier surveys and helps stop researchers reinventing functions that already exist.

Abstract · Three Decades of Activations: A Comprehensive Survey of 400 Activation Functions for Neural Networks

Neural networks have proven to be a highly effective tool for solving complex problems in many areas of life. Recently, their importance and practical usability have further been reinforced with the advent of deep learning. One of the important conditions for the success of neural networks is the choice of an appropriate activation function introducing non-linearity into the model. Many types of these functions have been proposed in the literature in the past, but there is no single comprehensive source containing their exhaustive overview. The absence of this overview, even in our experience, leads to redundancy and the unintentional rediscovery of already existing activation functions. To bridge this gap, our paper presents an extensive survey involving 400 activation functions, which is several times larger in scale than previous surveys. Our comprehensive compilation also references these surveys; however, its main goal is to provide the most comprehensive overview and systematization of previously published activation functions with links to their original sources. The secondary aim is to update the current understanding of this family of functions.

Vladimír Kunc, Jiří Kléma
arXiv:2402.09092 · cs.LG, cs.NE · submitted Feb 14, 2024
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