Lesson 1 · Machine Learning
What is Machine Learning?
6 min
You'll be able to
- Define machine learning precisely
- Contrast learning from data with explicit programming
- Identify the three main learning paradigms
Machine learning is the field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Instead of writing rules, we write a learning procedure that finds patterns in data.
A learning algorithm takes data and a task, and produces a model — a mathematical function that maps inputs to predictions. The model's quality is measured on data it has never seen.
Three paradigms
- Supervised — learn from labelled input/output pairs (e.g. email → spam or not).
- Unsupervised — find structure in unlabelled data (e.g. group customers).
- Reinforcement — learn by taking actions and receiving rewards.
Challenge
Paradigm sorter
For each task, name the paradigm: predicting house prices, grouping news articles by topic, and teaching a robot to walk.
Knowledge Check
What is ML?
Which paradigm learns from labelled examples of inputs and outputs?
Machine learning requires writing an explicit rule for every situation.
Answer all questions to submit.