Significance in Scale Space for Bivariate Density Estimation

Abstract

An important problem in the use of density estimation for data analysis is whether or not observed features, such as bumps, are “really there” as opposed to being artifacts of the natural sampling variability. Here we propose a solution to this problem, in the challenging two-dimensional case, using the graphical technique of significance in scale space. Color and dynamic graphics form an important part of the visualization method.