The problem of classifying multiple categorical responses is fundamental in modern machine learning and statistics, with diverse applications in fields such as bioinformatics and imaging. This manuscript investigates linear discriminant analysis (LDA) with high-dimensional predictors and multiple multi-class responses. Specifically, we first examine two different classification scenarios under the bivariate LDA model: joint classification of the two responses and conditional classification of one response while observing the other. To achieve optimal classification rules for both scenarios, we introduce two novel tensor formulations of the discriminant coefficients and corresponding regularization strategies. For joint classification, we propose an overlapping group lasso penalty and a blockwise coordinate descent algorithm to efficiently compute the joint discriminant coefficient tensors. For conditional classification, we utilize an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm to compute the discriminant coefficient tensors under new constraints. We then extend our method and algorithms to general multivariate responses. Finally, we validate the effectiveness of our approach through simulation studies and applications to benchmark datasets.

We study the multivariate square-root lasso, a method for fitting the multivariate response linear regression model with dependent errors. This estimator minimizes the nuclear norm of the residual matrix plus a convex penalty. Unlike existing methods that require explicit estimates of the error precision (inverse covariance) matrix, the multivariate square-root lasso implicitly accounts for error dependence and is the solution to a convex optimization problem. We establish error bounds which reveal that like the univariate square-root lasso, the multivariate square-root lasso is pivotal with respect to the unknown error covariance matrix. In addition, we propose a variation of the alternating direction method of multipliers algorithm to compute the estimator and discuss an accelerated first order algorithm that can be applied in certain cases. In both simulation studies and a genomic data application, we show that the multivariate square-root lasso can outperform more computationally intensive methods that require explicit estimation of the error precision matrix.