Introduction to Machine

Learning for Beginners

Introduction to Machine Learning for
Beginners
We have seen Machine Learning as a buzzword for the past few
years, the reason for this might be the high amount of data
production by applications, the increase of computation power
in the past few years and the development of better algorithms.

Machine Learning is used anywhere from automating

mundane tasks to offering intelligent insights, industries in
every sector try to benefit from it. You may already be using a
device that utilizes it. For example, a wearable fitness tracker
like Fitbit, or an intelligent home assistant like Google Home.
But there are much more examples of ML in use.

 Prediction — Machine learning can also be used in the

prediction systems. Considering the loan example, to
compute the probability of a fault, the system will need
to classify the available data in groups.

 Image recognition — Machine learning can be used for

face detection in an image as well. There is a separate
category for each person in a database of several people.
  Speech Recognition — It is the translation of spoken
words into the text. It is used in voice searches and
more. Voice user interfaces include voice dialing, call
routing, and appliance control. It can also be used a
simple data entry and the preparation of structured
documents.

 Medical diagnoses — ML is trained to recognize

cancerous tissues.

 Financial industry and trading — companies use ML in

fraud investigations and credit checks.

What is Machine Learning?

According to Arthur Samuel, Machine Learning algorithms

enable the computers to learn from data, and even improve
themselves, without being explicitly programmed.

Machine learning (ML) is a category of an algorithm that allows

software applications to become more accurate in predicting
outcomes without being explicitly programmed. The basic
premise of machine learning is to build algorithms that can
receive input data and use statistical analysis to predict an
output while updating outputs as new data becomes available.

Types of Machine Learning?

Machine learning can be classified into 3 types of algorithms.

1. Supervised Learning

2. Unsupervised Learning

3. Reinforcement Learning

Overview of Supervised Learning Algorithm

In Supervised learning, an AI system is presented with data
which is labeled, which means that each data tagged with the
correct label.

The goal is to approximate the mapping function so well that

when you have new input data (x) that you can predict the
output variables (Y) for that data.
As shown in the above example, we have initially taken some
data and marked them as ‘Spam’ or ‘Not Spam’. This labeled
data is used by the training supervised model, this data is used
to train the model.

Once it is trained we can test our model by testing it with some

test new mails and checking of the model is able to predict the
right output.

Types of Supervised learning

 Classification: A classification problem is when the

output variable is a category, such as “red” or “blue” or
“disease” and “no disease”.

 Regression: A regression problem is when the output

variable is a real value, such as “dollars” or “weight”.

Overview of Unsupervised Learning

Algorithm
In unsupervised learning, an AI system is presented with
unlabeled, uncategorized data and the system’s algorithms act
on the data without prior training. The output is dependent
upon the coded algorithms. Subjecting a system to unsupervised
learning is one way of testing AI.
In the above example, we have given some characters to our
model which are ‘Ducks’ and ‘Not Ducks’. In our training data,
we don’t provide any label to the corresponding data. The
unsupervised model is able to separate both the characters by
looking at the type of data and models the underlying structure
or distribution in the data in order to learn more about it.

Types of Unsupervised learning

 Clustering: A clustering problem is where you want to

discover the inherent groupings in the data, such as
grouping customers by purchasing behavior.

 Association: An association rule learning problem is

where you want to discover rules that describe large
portions of your data, such as people that buy X also
tend to buy Y.

Overview of Reinforcement Learning

A reinforcement learning algorithm, or agent, learns by
interacting with its environment. The agent receives rewards
by performing correctly and penalties for performing
incorrectly. The agent learns without intervention from a
human by maximizing its reward and minimizing its
penalty. It is a type of dynamic programming that trains
algorithms using a system of reward and punishment.
There is a critic : Who will observer the agent form outside &
give him indication whether the agent is doing wright or wrong.

In the above example, we can see that the agent is given 2

options i.e. a path with water or a path with fire. A
reinforcement algorithm works on reward a system i.e. if the
agent uses the fire path then the rewards are subtracted and
agent tries to learn that it should avoid the fire path. If it had
chosen the water path or the safe path then some points would
have been added to the reward points, the agent then would try
to learn what path is safe and what path isn’t.
It is basically leveraging the rewards obtained, the agent
improves its environment knowledge to select the next action.

Applications of Supervised Learning

Supervised Learning Algorithms are used in a variety of applications. Let’s go

through some of the most well-known applications.

 BioInformatics – This is one of the most well-known applications of Supervised

Learning because most of us use it in our day-to-day lives. BioInformatics is the
storage of Biological Information of us humans such as fingerprints, iris texture,
earlobe and so on. Cellphones of today are capable of learning our biological
information and are then able to authenticate us bringing up the security of the
system. Smartphones such as iPhones, Google Pixel are capable of facial
recognition while OnePlus, Samsung is capable of In-display finger recognition.
 Speech Recognition – This is the kind of application where you teach the algorithm
about your voice and it will be able to recognize you. The most well-known real-world
applications are virtual assistants such as Google Assistant and Siri, which will wake
up to the keyword with your voice only.
 Spam Detection – This application is used where the unreal or computer-based
messages and E-Mails are to be blocked. G-Mail has an algorithm that learns the
different keywords which could be fake such as “You are the winner of something”
and so forth and blocks those messages directly. OnePlus Messages App gives the
user the task of making the application learn which keywords need to be blocked and
the app will block those messages with the keyword.
 Object-Recognition for Vision – This kind of application is used when you need to
identify something. You have a huge dataset which you use to teach your algorithm
and this can be used to recognize a new instance. Raspberry Pi algorithms which
detect objects are the most well-known example.

Those were some of the places where Supervised Learning has shined and shown
its grit in the real world of today. With that, let us move over to the differences
between Supervised and Unsupervised learning.

Supervised vs. Unsupervised Learning

Parameter Supervised Learning Unsupervised Learning

Dataset Labelled Unlabelled

Method of Learning Guided learning The algorithm learns by itself using dataset

Complexity Simpler method Computationally complex

Accuracy More Accurate Less Accurate

Applications of unsupervised machine learning
Some applications of unsupervised machine learning techniques are:

 Clustering automatically split the dataset into groups base on their

similarities
 Anomaly detection can discover unusual data points in your dataset. It is
useful for finding fraudulent transactions
 Association mining identifies sets of items which often occur together in
your dataset
 Latent variable models are widely used for data preprocessing. Like
reducing the number of features in a dataset or decomposing the dataset into
multiple components