DYNAMISM(E) - Biannual Student Magazine June-2017 | Page 13

#ISMEianWrites Machine Learning and Neural Network: An Introduction to Beginners (Dr.) Prof. Prof. (Dr.) S. Shyam S SHYAM PRASAD, Prasad Professor – Marketing, ISME machine learning. An earlier definition by Arthur Samuel described machine learning as: “the field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.” Machine Learning In the present era of big data and hypercompetition a plethora of tools is being used to predict the future as accurately as possible to gain competitive advantage. One often comes across subjects such as Machine Learning and Neural Network amongst many other. The intention of this small write up is to introduce the reader to these terms and particularly the students to make them aware so that they may prepare themselves for deeper study or a career in them if they find it interesting. The institutes can also think of introducing short-term courses in these subjects. Machine Learning We have been using machine learning many times a day without realizing it. A simple example would be Google search. Every time we do a Google search, the search engine works so well because Google’s machine learning software guesses our search intention and accordingly ranks the pages. Even the email spam filter that separates out the chaff and saves us the time and effort in handling emails is an example of machine learning. At a higher level, getting robots to drive a car or tidy up the house are also examples of machine learning. Scientists are hopeful that progress in this direction can be made through learning algorithms called neural networks. Neural networks imitate our brain and resemble its working. Discussion on neural networks is done later in this write up. On going through the literature of machine learning, one comes across two definitions of 13 We have been using machine learning many times a day without realizing it. A simple example would be Google search. Every time we do a Google search, the search engine works so well because Google’s machine learning software guesses our search intention and accordingly ranks the pages. Even the email spam filter that separates out the chaff and saves us the time and effort in handling emails is an example of machine learning. At a higher level, getting robots to drive a car or tidy up the house are also examples of machine learning. Scientists are hopeful that progress in this direction can be made through learning algorithms called neural networks. Neural networks imitate our brain and resemble its working. Discussion on neural networks is done later in this write up. On going through the literature of machine learning, one comes across two definitions of machine learning. An earlier definition by Arthur Samuel described machine learning as: “the field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.” A formal and a modern definition is given by Tom Mitchell and the definition is: “A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks T and performance measure P, if its performance at tasks in T, as measured by P, improves with experience E.” Example: playing chess. E = the experience of playing many games of chess DYNAMISM(E)