A Concise Introduction To Machine Learning

The emphasis of the book is on the question of Why – only if why an algorithm is successful is understood, can it be properly applied, and the results trusted. Algorithms are often taught side by side without showing the similarities and differences between them. This book addresses the commonalities, and aims to give a thorough and in-depth treatment and develop intuition, while remaining concise. This useful reference should be an essential on the bookshelves of anyone employing machine learning techniques. The author's webpage for the book can be accessed here.

AN INTRODUCTION TO MACHINE LEARNING THAT INCLUDES THE FUNDAMENTAL TECHNIQUES, METHODS, AND APPLICATIONS PROSE Award Finalist 2019 Association of American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence Machine Learning: a Concise Introduction offers a comprehensive introduction to the core concepts, approaches, and applications of machine learning. The author—an expert in the field—presents fundamental ideas, terminology, and techniques for solving applied problems in classification, regression, clustering, density estimation, and dimension reduction. The design principles behind the techniques are emphasized, including the bias-variance trade-off and its influence on the design of ensemble methods. Understanding these principles leads to more flexible and successful applications. Machine Learning: a Concise Introduction also includes methods for optimization, risk estimation, and model selection— essential elements of most applied projects. This important resource: Illustrates many classification methods with a single, running example, highlighting similarities and differences between methods Presents R source code which shows how to apply and interpret many of the techniques covered Includes many thoughtful exercises as an integral part of the text, with an appendix of selected solutions Contains useful information for effectively communicating with clients A volume in the popular Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics, Machine Learning: a Concise Introduction offers the practical information needed for an understanding of the methods and application of machine learning. STEVEN W. KNOX holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois and an M.S. in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University. He has over twenty years’ experience in using Machine Learning, Statistics, and Mathematics to solve real-world problems. He currently serves as Technical Director of Mathematics Research and Senior Advocate for Data Science at the National Security Agency.

The emphasis of the book is on the question of Why – only if why an algorithm is successful is understood, can it be properly applied, and the results trusted. Algorithms are often taught side by side without showing the similarities and differences between them. This book addresses the commonalities, and aims to give a thorough and in-depth treatment and develop intuition, while remaining concise. This useful reference should be an essential on the bookshelves of anyone employing machine learning techniques.

A coherent introduction to core concepts and deep learning techniques that are critical to academic research and real-world applications.

Multiagent systems is an expanding field that blends classical fields like game theory and decentralized control with modern fields like computer science and machine learning. This monograph provides a concise introduction to the subject, covering the theoretical foundations as well as more recent developments in a coherent and readable manner. The text is centered on the concept of an agent as decision maker. Chapter 1 is a short introduction to the field of multiagent systems. Chapter 2 covers the basic theory of singleagent decision making under uncertainty. Chapter 3 is a brief introduction to game theory, explaining classical concepts like Nash equilibrium. Chapter 4 deals with the fundamental problem of coordinating a team of collaborative agents. Chapter 5 studies the problem of multiagent reasoning and decision making under partial observability. Chapter 6 focuses on the design of protocols that are stable against manipulations by self-interested agents. Chapter 7 provides a short introduction to the rapidly expanding field of multiagent reinforcement learning. The material can be used for teaching a half-semester course on multiagent systems covering, roughly, one chapter per lecture.

A project-based guide to the basics of deep learning. This concise, project-driven guide to deep learning takes readers through a series of program-writing tasks that introduce them to the use of deep learning in such areas of artificial intelligence as computer vision, natural-language processing, and reinforcement learning. The author, a longtime artificial intelligence researcher specializing in natural-language processing, covers feed-forward neural nets, convolutional neural nets, word embeddings, recurrent neural nets, sequence-to-sequence learning, deep reinforcement learning, unsupervised models, and other fundamental concepts and techniques. Students and practitioners learn the basics of deep learning by working through programs in Tensorflow, an open-source machine learning framework. “I find I learn computer science material best by sitting down and writing programs,” the author writes, and the book reflects this approach. Each chapter includes a programming project, exercises, and references for further reading. An early chapter is devoted to Tensorflow and its interface with Python, the widely used programming language. Familiarity with linear algebra, multivariate calculus, and probability and statistics is required, as is a rudimentary knowledge of programming in Python. The book can be used in both undergraduate and graduate courses; practitioners will find it an essential reference.

Planning is the model-based approach to autonomous behavior where the agent behavior is derived automatically from a model of the actions, sensors, and goals. The main challenges in planning are computational as all models, whether featuring uncertainty and feedback or not, are intractable in the worst case when represented in compact form. In this book, we look at a variety of models used in AI planning, and at the methods that have been developed for solving them. The goal is to provide a modern and coherent view of planning that is precise, concise, and mostly self-contained, without being shallow. For this, we make no attempt at covering the whole variety of planning approaches, ideas, and applications, and focus on the essentials. The target audience of the book are students and researchers interested in autonomous behavior and planning from an AI, engineering, or cognitive science perspective. Table of Contents: Preface / Planning and Autonomous Behavior / Classical Planning: Full Information and Deterministic Actions / Classical Planning: Variations and Extensions / Beyond Classical Planning: Transformations / Planning with Sensing: Logical Models / MDP Planning: Stochastic Actions and Full Feedback / POMDP Planning: Stochastic Actions and Partial Feedback / Discussion / Bibliography / Author's Biography

Introduction -- Supervised learning -- Bayesian decision theory -- Parametric methods -- Multivariate methods -- Dimensionality reduction -- Clustering -- Nonparametric methods -- Decision trees -- Linear discrimination -- Multilayer perceptrons -- Local models -- Kernel machines -- Graphical models -- Brief contents -- Hidden markov models -- Bayesian estimation -- Combining multiple learners -- Reinforcement learning -- Design and analysis of machine learning experiments.