Deep Learning For Dummies

Chapter 2

Introducing the Machine Learning Principles

IN THIS CHAPTER

Considering what machine learning involves

Understanding the methods used to achieve machine learning

Using machine learning for the correct reasons

As discussed in Chapter 1, the concept of learning for a computer is different from the concept of learning for humans. However, Chapter 1 doesn’t really describe machine learning, the kind of learning a computer uses, in any depth. After all, what you’re really looking at is an entirely different sort of learning that some people would view as a combination of math, pattern matching, and data storage. This chapter begins by pointing the way to a deeper understanding of how machine learning works.

However, an explanation of machine learning doesn’t completely help you understand what’s going on when you work with it. How machine learning works is also important, which is the subject of the next section of the chapter. In this section, you discover that no perfect methods exist for performing analysis. You may have to experiment with your analysis to get the expected output. In addition, different approaches to machine learning are available, and each has advantages ...