Using MNIST DATABASE for digits recognition.

Question

I am trying to use the MNIST DATABASE in order to recognize hand written digits. What I have so far is a binary matrix that represents the digit , the algorithm is written in matlab . I would love some help on getting started with using the MNIST DATABASE to recognize the digit from the binary image. Thanks.

Answer 1

If you are using Matlab and already have the binary images now you need to:

1) Extract features from the images (you have many choices). For example, you can start by using the raw pixels ==> convert each image matrix into a row vector. (Use a part of the data for training and the rest for testing)

Create a feature matrix with all these row vectors. Each row will be an "instance" in your feature matrix.

2) Now can select and try different classifiers. Try for example, an SVM (Support Vector Machine). The most basic way is using the svmtrain and svmclassify functions. The usage is simple and well explained in Matlab's help.

3)Test different partitions of data.

4)Experiment with other features and classifiers.