Using Wavelets to Minimize Max

Joe Lakey
Department of Mathematical Sciences, New Mexico State University

Abstract: Wavelets have been around for 20 years and are now included among the standard techniques for lossy image compression, whose objective is to transform information in such a way that irrelevant information can be discarded while relevant information is (mostly) retained. Historically, singular value decompositions (SVDs) and Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) were used for this. The talk will contain an introduction to wavelets and their properties, and some comments about the newer mathematical understanding of how wavelets capture "relevant information" in images. Comparisons between wavelets and other methods will be demonstrated on specific images such as one of my dog Max, and further evolution of the underlying mathematics will be outlined.