# How to get an interpolation weight from a mathematical definition

It was recently explained to me that a "Nearest neighbor" kernel for 1D interpolation can be implemented like this using NumPy

def nearest(delta):
delta = abs(delta)
if delta <= 0.5:
return numpy.asarray([0,1])
else:
return numpy.asarray([1,0])


Whereas the mathematical definition of nearest neighbor is

$$h_{nn}(\delta) = \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if}& -0.5 \le \delta < 0.5 \\ 0 & otherwise \\ \end{cases}$$

Similarly linear interpolation, which in NumPy can be expressed as

def linear(delta):
delta = abs(delta)
return [delta,1-delta]


But the mathematical definition for it goes

$$h_{lin}(\delta) = \begin{cases} 1-|\delta| &\text{if}& 0 \le |\delta| < 1 \\ 0 & \text{if}& 1 \le |\delta| \end{cases}$$

My question is how to form a kernel with weights out of these mathematical definitions, as the code belonging to them does not paint the same picture that the mathematical definitions paint.

• I don't quite understand your question but think about this: nearest neighbor rounding is done by adding 1/2 the interval (I presume delta), and rounding down. Try it by hand to see it, then the algorithm should be equivalent. May 28 '19 at 19:50

I'll give a concrete example. Let's say you have a signal that was sampled every second. The frequency is $$f = \frac{1}{1} = 1 Hz$$.

Time: $$T = \begin{bmatrix}0 & 1 & 2 & 3\end{bmatrix}$$

Value: $$X = \begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 & 3 & 4\end{bmatrix}$$

We want to increase the frequency by $$2$$ i.e. $$2 Hz$$ (sample every 0.5 seconds).

Time: $$\tilde{T} = \begin{bmatrix}0 & 0.5 & 1 & 1.5 & 2 & 2.5 & 3\end{bmatrix}$$

Value: $$\tilde{X} = \begin{bmatrix}1 & x_1 & 2 & x_2 & 3 & x_3 & 4\end{bmatrix}$$

$$x_1, x_2, x_3$$ is determined by your interpolation functions $$h_{nn}(\delta)$$ and $$h_{lin}(\delta)$$. Here $$\delta$$ is time and both functions define intervals. Each value is given by $$S(\delta) = \sum_{i=0}^{n-1} X_i \cdot h_{nn}(\delta-i)$$. For nearest neighbor change the interval to $$0 \leq \delta < 1$$. Then $$S(0) = S(0.5) = X_0 \cdot 1 + X_1 \cdot 0 + \cdots = X_0$$. See also Cardinal B-splines.

While downsampling by $$M$$ requires strided convolution $$y[n] = \sum_k x[nM - k]h[k]$$

Upsampling needs fractionally strided convolution which is also called transposed convolution (see stackexchange)

$$y[j + nM] = \sum_k x[n-k]h[j+kM] \text{ and } j = 0, \dots, M-1$$

Transposed convolution with kernel size 3, stride 2 and padding 1 is equivalent to inserting 1 zero between inputs, pad by 1 and stride 1.

The kernel is $$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 1 & 0\end{bmatrix}$$ or $$\begin{bmatrix}0 & 1 & 1\end{bmatrix}$$ (either cross correlation or convolution) for nearest-neighbor interpolation (to double frequency):

from torch.nn import ConvTranspose1d
import torch
import numpy as np

def interpolate_nn(X):
X = torch.from_numpy(X)
op = ConvTranspose1d(in_channels=1, out_channels=1,
kernel_size=3, stride=2,
op.weight.data = torch.tensor([0, 1, 1]).view(1, 1, -1).float()

return op(X.view(1, 1, -1).float()).numpy().flatten()

X = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4])
print(interpolate_nn(X))


The result is [1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4.]

For linear interpolation use $$\begin{bmatrix}0.5 & 1 & 0.5\end{bmatrix}$$. The result is [1. 1.5 2. 2.5 3. 3.5 4. ]

Compare it with your $$h_{lin}(\delta)$$:

\begin{align*} S(0) &= X_0h_{lin}(0 - 0) + X_1h_{lin}(0 - 1) + \cdots = X_0(1 - |0|) = X_0\\ S(0.5) &= X_0h_{lin}(0.5 - 0) + X_1h_{lin}(0.5 - 1) + \cdots = 0.5X_0 + 0.5X_1\\ S(1) &= X_0h_{lin}(1 - 0) + X_1h_{lin}(1 - 1) + \cdots = 1X_1\\ \vdots \end{align*}