Neural Polytopes

Abstract

We find that simple neural networks with ReLU activation generate polytopes as an approximation of a unit sphere in various dimensions. The species of polytopes are regulated by the network architecture, such as the number of units and layers. For a variety of activation functions, generalization of polytopes is obtained, which we call neural polytopes. They are a smooth analogue of polytopes, exhibiting geometric duality. This finding initiates research of generative discrete geometry to approximate surfaces by machine learning.