structured and organized list of the math topics you tailored for a beginner to study Probability and Statistics in a logical and progressive order. I’ve grouped related topics together and arranged them in order from foundational to more advanced concepts:
Different typ of math for ML
Machine learning isn’t rocket science, it’s math science! And if you’re serious about mastering it, there’s one thing you can’t ignore: Math.
Think about it—every powerful AI model, every predictive algorithm, and every groundbreaking discovery in machine learning is built on a foundation of mathematical principles.
But don’t worry! You don’t need a PhD in math to get started. You just need the right roadmap, and that’s exactly what I’ll go over today.
Probability and Statistics
1. Foundational Concepts
These are the basics you need to understand before diving into more complex topics.
- Random Variables:
- Learn what random variables are (discrete and continuous).
- Understand how they represent outcomes of random phenomena.
- Probability Distributions:
- Study common distributions (e.g., Uniform, Binomial, Normal).
- Learn how they describe the likelihood of different outcomes.
- Populations and Samples & Law of Large Numbers:
- Understand the difference between a population and a sample.
- Learn how the Law of Large Numbers connects sample statistics to population parameters.
2. Descriptive Statistics
These topics help you summarize and describe data.
- The Mean, the Median, and Expected Values:
- Learn how to calculate and interpret the mean and median.
- Understand expected values for random variables.
- Variance & Covariance, Correlation:
- Study variance as a measure of spread.
- Learn about covariance and correlation to understand relationships between variables.
- Different Types of Plots:
- Explore visual tools like histograms, box plots, scatter plots, and bar charts.
- Understand how to use them to represent data effectively.
3. Core Statistical Principles
These are key principles that form the backbone of statistical analysis.
- Central Limit Theorem & Normal Distribution:
- Learn how the Central Limit Theorem allows us to use the normal distribution for inference.
- Study the properties of the normal distribution.
- Standard Deviation, Statistical Significance, Z-scores, and Hypothesis Testing:
- Understand standard deviation as a measure of variability.
- Learn about Z-scores and how they relate to the normal distribution.
- Study the basics of hypothesis testing (null and alternative hypotheses, p-values).
4. Applications in Machine Learning
These topics are more advanced and directly applicable to machine learning.
- Specificity, Sensitivity & Confusion Matrices:
- Learn how to evaluate classification models using these metrics.
- Understand how confusion matrices summarize model performance.
- Multiple Comparisons Problem & Solutions (e.g., Bonferroni Correction):
- Study the issue of multiple comparisons in hypothesis testing.
- Learn about correction methods like the Bonferroni correction to control error rates.
Linear Algebra
1. Foundational Concepts
These are the basics you need to understand before diving into more complex topics.
- Vectors and Matrices:
- Learn what vectors and matrices are.
- Understand their properties and how they are used to represent data.
- Basic Trigonometric Terms:
- Review key trigonometric concepts (e.g., sine, cosine, tangent).
- Understand how these concepts are applied in linear algebra and calculus.
2. Core Linear Algebra
These topics form the backbone of linear algebra.
- Matrix Operations:
- Study addition, subtraction, and multiplication of matrices.
- Learn about the inverse and transpose of a matrix.
- Matrix Rank and Linear Independence:
- Understand the concept of matrix rank.
- Learn about linear independence and how it relates to matrices.
3. Core Calculus
These topics form the backbone of calculus.
- Derivatives & Their Meaning:
- Learn what derivatives are and how they represent rates of change.
- Understand the geometric interpretation of derivatives.
- Basic Rules:
- Study the chain rule and other basic differentiation rules.
- Practice applying these rules to solve problems.
Important Concept for machine learning
1. Foundational Concepts
These are the basics you need to understand before diving into more complex topics.
- Truly and Fully Understand at Least Linear Regression:
- Learn the concepts and mathematics behind linear regression.
- Understand how it models the relationship between input and output variables.
- Labels, Weights (Parameters), Hyperparameters:
- Learn the difference between labels, weights (parameters), and hyperparameters.
- Understand how they are used in training machine learning models.
2. Core Machine Learning Concepts
These topics form the backbone of machine learning.
- Loss Functions:
- Understand how loss functions measure the performance of a model.
- Learn about common loss functions like Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Cross-Entropy Loss.
- Gradient Descent:
- Study how gradient descent is used to optimize models by minimizing the loss function.
- Learn about different variants like Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD).
- Train, Test, Validation Set:
- Understand the purpose of splitting data into training, testing, and validation sets.
- Learn how to evaluate model performance using these sets.
- Validation and Cross-Validation:
- Study how validation and cross-validation help in model evaluation.
- Learn about techniques like k-fold cross-validation.
3. Advanced Machine Learning Concepts
These topics are more advanced and focus on improving model performance.
- Regularization:
- Learn about techniques like L1 and L2 regularization to prevent overfitting.
- Understand how regularization adds penalties to the loss function.
- Overfitting and Underfitting:
- Study the concepts of overfitting and underfitting.
- Learn how to address these issues using techniques like regularization and cross-validation.
- TRULY Understand Bias and Variance and the Bias-Variance Tradeoff:
- Deeply understand bias, variance, and the tradeoff between them in model performance.
- Learn how to balance bias and variance to build robust models.