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Predict the future with Machine Learning

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Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#2
I would like to read mathematical foundations of machine learning written for those who are bad at calculus but good at discrete mathematics and algorithms.

For example, I'm learning algorithms, participate at contests, quite comfortable with combinatorics and discrete probability theory but I'm absolute zero at calculus. I would like to read machine learning's math introduction which is friendly to my "discrete" brains.

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#3

I would like to read mathematical foundations of machine learning written for those who are bad at calculus but good at discrete mathematics and algorithms. For example, I'm learning algorithms, participate at contests, quite comfortable with combinatorics and discrete probability theory but I'm absolute zero at calculus. I would like to read machine learning's math introduction which is friendly to my "discrete" bra…

Perhaps Khan Academy can help you out with a little effort? https://www.khanacademy.org/math

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#4

I would like to read mathematical foundations of machine learning written for those who are bad at calculus but good at discrete mathematics and algorithms. For example, I'm learning algorithms, participate at contests, quite comfortable with combinatorics and discrete probability theory but I'm absolute zero at calculus. I would like to read machine learning's math introduction which is friendly to my "discrete" bra…

Or consider learning calculus.

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#5
post #4

I would like to read mathematical foundations of machine learning written for those who are bad at calculus but good at discrete mathematics and algorithms. For example, I'm learning algorithms, participate at contests, quite comfortable with combinatorics and discrete probability theory but I'm absolute zero at calculus. I would like to read machine learning's math introduction which is friendly to my "discrete" bra…

Or consider learning calculus.

This... It's not like rocket science when u already know math. Just read cs229

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#6

I would like to read mathematical foundations of machine learning written for those who are bad at calculus but good at discrete mathematics and algorithms. For example, I'm learning algorithms, participate at contests, quite comfortable with combinatorics and discrete probability theory but I'm absolute zero at calculus. I would like to read machine learning's math introduction which is friendly to my "discrete" bra…

Learn discrete calculus from Knuth's Concrete Mathematics first; it is combinatorics-heavy and once you get to differences and summation per-partes, you can quickly extend it to "normal" calculus as you master notion of "limit".

Quick look at it e.g. here:

http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~kauffman/DCalc.pdf

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#7

I would like to read mathematical foundations of machine learning written for those who are bad at calculus but good at discrete mathematics and algorithms. For example, I'm learning algorithms, participate at contests, quite comfortable with combinatorics and discrete probability theory but I'm absolute zero at calculus. I would like to read machine learning's math introduction which is friendly to my "discrete" bra…

Combinatorics is significantly more difficult than the level of calculus required to understand "machine learning" (i.e. gradient descent).

Also generating functions are kind of combinatorics + calculus.

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#8
We shouldn't ever confuse machine learning with predicting the future -- just because you've never encountered a black swan in the wild, doesn't mean they don't exist.

That being said, the article otherwise seems like a great introduction. Not sure why they chose that title.

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#9

We shouldn't ever confuse machine learning with predicting the future -- just because you've never encountered a black swan in the wild, doesn't mean they don't exist. That being said, the article otherwise seems like a great introduction. Not sure why they chose that title.

It is an unfortunate misconception that statistical probability can be used to predict the future.

Any time you extend a statistical model temporally it immediately becomes mathematically invalid since probabilistic statistics are only valid for a fixed population at a fixed moment in time.

Unfortunately business and government is rife with people predicting the future based on statistical models that have no more mathematical validity than reading tea leaves.

Re: Predict the future with Machine Learning

#10

We shouldn't ever confuse machine learning with predicting the future -- just because you've never encountered a black swan in the wild, doesn't mean they don't exist. That being said, the article otherwise seems like a great introduction. Not sure why they chose that title.

Black Swans are the error rate of your predictions (the real error rather than your prediction of your error rate) not existential proof that prediction is always doomed.

After all, if Black Swans were common enough to make prediction a fool's errand most of the time, the bird of that name would never have led to the book of that name, because everyone would be predicting their failure to predict things.

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