Chapter 9 - Markov Chain Monte Carlo

This chapter has been an informal introduction to Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation. The goal has been to introduce the purpose and approach MCMC algorithms. The major algorithms introduced were the Metropolis, Gibbs sampling, and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo algorithms. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The ulam function in the rethinking package was introduced. It uses the Stan (mc-stan.org) Hamiltonian Monte Carlo engine to fit models as they are defined in this book. General advice about diagnosing poor MCMC fits was introduced by the use of a couple of pathological examples.

Place each answer inside the code chunk (grey box). The code chunks should contain a text response or a code that completes/answers the question or activity requested. Problems are labeled Easy (E), Medium (M), and Hard(H).

Finally, upon completion, name your final output .html file as: YourName_ANLY505-Year-Semester.html and publish the assignment to your R Pubs account and submit the link to Canvas. Each question is worth 5 points.

Questions

9E1. Which of the following is a requirement of the simple Metropolis algorithm?

  1. The parameters must be discrete.
  2. The likelihood function must be Gaussian.
  3. The proposal distribution must be symmetric.
# 3. The proposal distribution must be symmetric.

9E2. Gibbs sampling is more efficient than the Metropolis algorithm. How does it achieve this extra efficiency? Are there any limitations to the Gibbs sampling strategy?

# Extra efficiency: Gibbs sampling uses particular combinations of prior distributions and likelihoods known as conjugate pairs, which have analytical solutions for the posterior distribution of an individual parameter. And these solutions are what allow Gibbs sampling to make smart jumps around the joint poste- rior distribution of all parameters.
# Limitations: 1) high dimension spaces are concentrated. 2) Gibbs sampling gets stuck and degenerates towards random walk. 3) Re-explores can cause inefficiency.

9E3. Which sort of parameters can Hamiltonian Monte Carlo not handle? Can you explain why?

# HMC cannot handle discrete parameters (requires continuous parameters). The reason is HMC cannot glide through a discrete parameter since there is no density or slope, let alone the change speed of the density.

9E4. Explain the difference between the effective number of samples, n_eff as calculated by Stan, and the actual number of samples.

# First, Stan provides an estimate of effective number of samples, for the purpose of estimating the posterior mean, as n_eff. Second, n_eff as the length of a Markov chain with no autocorrelation that would provide the same quality of estimate as the chain. As a result, n_eff can be larger than the length of the chain.

9E5. Which value should Rhat approach, when a chain is sampling the posterior distribution correctly?

# Rhat should reach 1 when chain is sampling the posterior distribution correctly

9E6. Sketch a good trace plot for a Markov chain, one that is effectively sampling from the posterior distribution. What is good about its shape? Then sketch a trace plot for a malfunctioning Markov chain. What about its shape indicates malfunction?

Answer: The good things about the shape of the good trace plot are stationary, good mixing, and convergence. The plot for the malfunctioning Markov chain drifts wildly and doesn’t settle on mean.

library(rethinking)

# Good trace plot
data(rugged)
d <- rugged
d$log_gdp <- log(d$rgdppc_2000)
dd <- d[ complete.cases(d$rgdppc_2000) , ]
dd$log_gdp_std <- dd$log_gdp / mean(dd$log_gdp)
dd$rugged_std <- dd$rugged / max(dd$rugged)
dd$cid <- ifelse( dd$cont_africa==1 , 1 , 2 )
dat_slim <- list(
  log_gdp_std = dd$log_gdp_std,
  rugged_std = dd$rugged_std,
  cid = as.integer( dd$cid )
)

m <- ulam(
  alist(
    log_gdp_std ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- a[cid] + b[cid]*( rugged_std - 0.215 ) ,
    a[cid] ~ dnorm( 1 , 0.1 ) ,
    b[cid] ~ dnorm( 0 , 0.3 ) ,
    sigma ~ dexp( 1 )
  ), data=dat_slim , chains=4, cores = 4 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
pairs(m)

traceplot(m)
## [1] 1000
## [1] 1
## [1] 1000
# malfunctioning Markov chain
y <- c(-1,1)
set.seed(1)
m2 <- ulam(
  alist(
    y ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- alpha ,
    alpha ~ dnorm( 0 , 1000 ) , 
    sigma ~ dexp( 0.0001 )
) , data=list(y=y) , chains=3 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
## 
## SAMPLING FOR MODEL '726d002e27cec1633082261fcfedb813' NOW (CHAIN 1).
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1: Gradient evaluation took 1.7e-05 seconds
## Chain 1: 1000 transitions using 10 leapfrog steps per transition would take 0.17 seconds.
## Chain 1: Adjust your expectations accordingly!
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1: Iteration:   1 / 1000 [  0%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 100 / 1000 [ 10%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 200 / 1000 [ 20%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 300 / 1000 [ 30%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 400 / 1000 [ 40%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 500 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 501 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 600 / 1000 [ 60%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 700 / 1000 [ 70%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 800 / 1000 [ 80%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 900 / 1000 [ 90%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 1000 / 1000 [100%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1:  Elapsed Time: 0.022459 seconds (Warm-up)
## Chain 1:                0.134908 seconds (Sampling)
## Chain 1:                0.157367 seconds (Total)
## Chain 1: 
## 
## SAMPLING FOR MODEL '726d002e27cec1633082261fcfedb813' NOW (CHAIN 2).
## Chain 2: 
## Chain 2: Gradient evaluation took 5e-06 seconds
## Chain 2: 1000 transitions using 10 leapfrog steps per transition would take 0.05 seconds.
## Chain 2: Adjust your expectations accordingly!
## Chain 2: 
## Chain 2: 
## Chain 2: Iteration:   1 / 1000 [  0%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 100 / 1000 [ 10%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 200 / 1000 [ 20%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 300 / 1000 [ 30%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 400 / 1000 [ 40%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 500 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 501 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 600 / 1000 [ 60%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 700 / 1000 [ 70%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 800 / 1000 [ 80%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 900 / 1000 [ 90%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 2: Iteration: 1000 / 1000 [100%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 2: 
## Chain 2:  Elapsed Time: 0.014824 seconds (Warm-up)
## Chain 2:                0.009161 seconds (Sampling)
## Chain 2:                0.023985 seconds (Total)
## Chain 2: 
## 
## SAMPLING FOR MODEL '726d002e27cec1633082261fcfedb813' NOW (CHAIN 3).
## Chain 3: 
## Chain 3: Gradient evaluation took 6e-06 seconds
## Chain 3: 1000 transitions using 10 leapfrog steps per transition would take 0.06 seconds.
## Chain 3: Adjust your expectations accordingly!
## Chain 3: 
## Chain 3: 
## Chain 3: Iteration:   1 / 1000 [  0%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 100 / 1000 [ 10%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 200 / 1000 [ 20%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 300 / 1000 [ 30%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 400 / 1000 [ 40%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 500 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 501 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 600 / 1000 [ 60%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 700 / 1000 [ 70%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 800 / 1000 [ 80%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 900 / 1000 [ 90%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 3: Iteration: 1000 / 1000 [100%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 3: 
## Chain 3:  Elapsed Time: 0.038385 seconds (Warm-up)
## Chain 3:                0.009211 seconds (Sampling)
## Chain 3:                0.047596 seconds (Total)
## Chain 3:
## Warning: There were 123 divergent transitions after warmup. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#divergent-transitions-after-warmup
## to find out why this is a problem and how to eliminate them.
## Warning: There were 5 transitions after warmup that exceeded the maximum treedepth. Increase max_treedepth above 10. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#maximum-treedepth-exceeded
## Warning: Examine the pairs() plot to diagnose sampling problems
## Warning: The largest R-hat is 1.08, indicating chains have not mixed.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#r-hat
## Warning: Bulk Effective Samples Size (ESS) is too low, indicating posterior means and medians may be unreliable.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#bulk-ess
## Warning: Tail Effective Samples Size (ESS) is too low, indicating posterior variances and tail quantiles may be unreliable.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#tail-ess
pairs(m2)

traceplot(m2)
## [1] 1000
## [1] 1
## [1] 1000

9E7. Repeat the problem above, but now for a trace rank plot.

trankplot(m)
trankplot(m2)

9M1. Re-estimate the terrain ruggedness model from the chapter, but now using a uniform prior for the standard deviation, sigma. The uniform prior should be dunif(0,1). Use ulam to estimate the posterior. Does the different prior have any detectible influence on the posterior distribution of sigma? Why or why not?

Answer: The different prior doesn’t have much detectible influence on the posterior distribution of sigma since uniform prior is between 0 and 1.

m3 <- ulam(
  alist(
    log_gdp_std ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- a[cid] + b[cid]*( rugged_std - 0.215 ) ,
    a[cid] ~ dnorm( 1 , 0.1 ) ,
    b[cid] ~ dnorm( 0 , 0.3 ) ,
    sigma ~ dunif(0, 1 )
  ), data=dat_slim , chains=4, cores = 4 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
pairs(m3)

traceplot(m3)
## [1] 1000
## [1] 1
## [1] 1000
library(dplyr)
## 
## Attaching package: 'dplyr'
## The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':
## 
##     filter, lag
## The following objects are masked from 'package:base':
## 
##     intersect, setdiff, setequal, union
m %>% extract.samples %>% .$sigma %>% dens(.,xlab="sigma") -> exp
m3 %>% extract.samples%>% .$sigma %>% dens(.,add=TRUE,col="blue") -> unif
mtext("posterior")

9M2. Modify the terrain ruggedness model again. This time, change the prior for b[cid] to dexp(0.3). What does this do to the posterior distribution? Can you explain it?

Answer: The posterior distribution shape doesn’t change much. The potential reason can be the small sample size.

m4 <- ulam(
  alist(
    log_gdp_std ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- a[cid] + b[cid]*( rugged_std - 0.215 ) ,
    a[cid] ~ dnorm( 1 , 0.1 ) ,
    b[cid] ~ dexp(0.3) ,
    sigma ~ dexp( 1 )
  ), data=dat_slim , chains=4, cores = 4 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
## Warning: Tail Effective Samples Size (ESS) is too low, indicating posterior variances and tail quantiles may be unreliable.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#tail-ess
pairs(m4)

traceplot(m4)
## [1] 1000
## [1] 1
## [1] 1000
m %>% extract.samples %>% .$sigma %>% dens(.,xlab="sigma")
m4 %>% extract.samples %>% .$sigma %>% dens(.,add=TRUE,xlab="sigma",col="blue")
mtext("posterior")

9M3. Re-estimate one of the Stan models from the chapter, but at different numbers of warmup iterations. Be sure to use the same number of sampling iterations in each case. Compare the n_eff values. How much warmup is enough?

Answer: 100 warmups are enough.

m.stan.10 <- map2stan(
  alist(
    log_gdp_std ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- a[cid] + b[cid]*( rugged_std - 0.215 ) ,
    a[cid] ~ dnorm( 1 , 0.1 ) ,
    b[cid] ~ dnorm( 0 , 0.3 )  ,
    sigma ~ dexp( 1 )
  ), data=dat_slim , warmup = 10, iter = 4000, chains=4, cores = 4 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
## Warning: There were 21 divergent transitions after warmup. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#divergent-transitions-after-warmup
## to find out why this is a problem and how to eliminate them.
## Warning: Examine the pairs() plot to diagnose sampling problems
## Computing WAIC
## Warning in map2stan(alist(log_gdp_std ~ dnorm(mu, sigma), mu <- a[cid] + : There were 21 divergent iterations during sampling.
## Check the chains (trace plots, n_eff, Rhat) carefully to ensure they are valid.
precis(m.stan.10)
## 4 vector or matrix parameters hidden. Use depth=2 to show them.
##            mean          sd      5.5%     94.5%   n_eff    Rhat4
## sigma 0.1116993 0.007070198 0.1022562 0.1219758 6674.03 1.000041
m.stan.100 <- map2stan(
  alist(
    log_gdp_std ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- a[cid] + b[cid]*( rugged_std - 0.215 ) ,
    a[cid] ~ dnorm( 1 , 0.1 ) ,
    b[cid] ~ dnorm( 0 , 0.3 )  ,
    sigma ~ dexp( 1 )
  ), data=dat_slim , warmup = 100, iter = 4000, chains=4, cores = 4 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
## Computing WAIC
precis(m.stan.100)
## 4 vector or matrix parameters hidden. Use depth=2 to show them.
##            mean          sd      5.5%     94.5%    n_eff    Rhat4
## sigma 0.1116572 0.006137996 0.1024119 0.1217173 9096.512 1.000064
m.stan.500 <- map2stan(
  alist(
    log_gdp_std ~ dnorm( mu , sigma ) ,
    mu <- a[cid] + b[cid]*( rugged_std - 0.215 ) ,
    a[cid] ~ dnorm( 1 , 0.1 ) ,
    b[cid] ~ dnorm( 0 , 0.3 )  ,
    sigma ~ dexp( 1 )
  ), data=dat_slim , warmup = 500, iter = 4000, chains=4, cores = 4 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
## Computing WAIC
precis(m.stan.500)
## 4 vector or matrix parameters hidden. Use depth=2 to show them.
##            mean          sd      5.5%     94.5%    n_eff     Rhat4
## sigma 0.1115604 0.006190242 0.1019441 0.1219409 19507.37 0.9999608

9H1. Run the model below and then inspect the posterior distribution and explain what it is accomplishing.

mp <- ulam(
 alist(
   a ~ dnorm(0,1),
   b ~ dcauchy(0,1)
 ), data=list(y=1) , chains=1 )
## Trying to compile a simple C file
## Running /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/R CMD SHLIB foo.c
## clang -mmacosx-version-min=10.13 -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/include" -DNDEBUG   -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/Rcpp/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/unsupported"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/BH/include" -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/src/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppParallel/include/"  -I"/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/rstan/include" -DEIGEN_NO_DEBUG  -DBOOST_DISABLE_ASSERTS  -DBOOST_PENDING_INTEGER_LOG2_HPP  -DSTAN_THREADS  -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -include '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp'  -D_REENTRANT -DRCPP_PARALLEL_USE_TBB=1   -I/usr/local/include   -fPIC  -Wall -g -O2  -c foo.c -o foo.o
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:88:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:1: error: unknown type name 'namespace'
## namespace Eigen {
## ^
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h:613:16: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
## namespace Eigen {
##                ^
##                ;
## In file included from <built-in>:1:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/StanHeaders/include/stan/math/prim/mat/fun/Eigen.hpp:13:
## In file included from /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Dense:1:
## /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.0/Resources/library/RcppEigen/include/Eigen/Core:96:10: fatal error: 'complex' file not found
## #include <complex>
##          ^~~~~~~~~
## 3 errors generated.
## make: *** [foo.o] Error 1
## 
## SAMPLING FOR MODEL '3bd3f4d287e9cccab124308e5415245c' NOW (CHAIN 1).
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1: Gradient evaluation took 2.7e-05 seconds
## Chain 1: 1000 transitions using 10 leapfrog steps per transition would take 0.27 seconds.
## Chain 1: Adjust your expectations accordingly!
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1: Iteration:   1 / 1000 [  0%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 100 / 1000 [ 10%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 200 / 1000 [ 20%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 300 / 1000 [ 30%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 400 / 1000 [ 40%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 500 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Warmup)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 501 / 1000 [ 50%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 600 / 1000 [ 60%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 700 / 1000 [ 70%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 800 / 1000 [ 80%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 900 / 1000 [ 90%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: Iteration: 1000 / 1000 [100%]  (Sampling)
## Chain 1: 
## Chain 1:  Elapsed Time: 0.011751 seconds (Warm-up)
## Chain 1:                0.009819 seconds (Sampling)
## Chain 1:                0.02157 seconds (Total)
## Chain 1:
## Warning: The largest R-hat is 1.08, indicating chains have not mixed.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#r-hat
## Warning: Bulk Effective Samples Size (ESS) is too low, indicating posterior means and medians may be unreliable.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#bulk-ess
## Warning: Tail Effective Samples Size (ESS) is too low, indicating posterior variances and tail quantiles may be unreliable.
## Running the chains for more iterations may help. See
## http://mc-stan.org/misc/warnings.html#tail-ess
traceplot(mp)
## [1] 1000
## [1] 1
## [1] 1000

Compare the samples for the parameters a and b. Can you explain the different trace plots? If you are unfamiliar with the Cauchy distribution, you should look it up. The key feature to attend to is that it has no expected value. Can you connect this fact to the trace plot?

# Answer: The Cauchy distribution (b) spreads out more, which accommodates more extreme values. Plot a is a normal distribution as the prior is mostly between -2 and 2 and centered around 0.