The loss functions of deep neural networks are complex and their geometric properties are not well understood. We show that the optima of these complex loss functions are in fact connected by simple curves over which training and test accuracy are nearly constant. We introduce a training procedure to discover these high-accuracy pathways between modes. Inspired by this new geometric insight, we also propose a new ensembling method entitled Fast Geometric Ensembling (FGE). Using FGE we can train high-performing ensembles in the time required to train a single model. We achieve improved performance compared to the recent state-of-the-art Snapshot Ensembles, on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and ImageNet. * Equal contribution. 1 Suppose we have three weight vectors w1, w2, w3. We set u = (w2 − w1), v = (w3 − w1) − w3 − w1, w2 − w1 / w2 − w1 2 • (w2 − w1). Then the normalized vectors û = u/ u , v = v/ v form an orthonormal basis in the plane containing w1, w2, w3. To visualize the loss in this plane, we define a Cartesian grid in the basis û, v and evaluate the networks corresponding to each of the points in the grid. A point P with coordinates (x, y) in the plane would then be given by P = w1 + x • û + y • v.
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