What is Machine Learning?

Last Updated on August 16, 2020

You’re interested in Machine Learning and maybe you dabble in it a little.

If you talk about Machine Learning with a friend or colleague one day, you run the risk of someone actually asking you:

“So, what is machine learning?“

The goal of this post is to give you a few definitions to think about and a handy one-liner definition that is easy to remember.

We will start out by getting a feeling for the standard definitions of Machine Learning taken from authoritative textbooks in the field. We’ll finish up by working out a developers definition of machine learning and a handy one-liner that we can use anytime we’re asked: What is Machine Learning?

Authoritative Definitions

Let’s start out by looking at four textbooks on Machine Learning that are commonly used in university-level courses.

These are our authoritative definitions and lay our foundation for deeper thought on the subject.

I chose these four definitions to highlight some useful and varied perspectives on the field. Through experience, we’ll learn that the field really is a mess of methods and choosing a perspective is key to making progress.

Mitchell’s Machine Learning

Tom Mitchell
To finish reading, please visit source site