  Tensor CANDECOMP/PARAFAC (CP) decomposition has wide applications in
statistical learning of latent variable models and in data mining. In this
paper, we propose fast and randomized tensor CP decomposition algorithms based
on sketching. We build on the idea of count sketches, but introduce many novel
ideas which are unique to tensors. We develop novel methods for randomized
computation of tensor contractions via FFTs, without explicitly forming the
tensors. Such tensor contractions are encountered in decomposition methods such
as tensor power iterations and alternating least squares. We also design novel
colliding hashes for symmetric tensors to further save time in computing the
sketches. We then combine these sketching ideas with existing whitening and
tensor power iterative techniques to obtain the fastest algorithm on both
sparse and dense tensors. The quality of approximation under our method does
not depend on properties such as sparsity, uniformity of elements, etc. We
apply the method for topic modeling and obtain competitive results.
